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Examiner Letters to the Editor
Friday, 9 December 1988
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Tom Jennings
164 Shipley St.
San Francisco CA 94107
(415)-882-9832
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ref: Thursday, 8 December Examiner article (starting on page 1)
regarding violent fascist skinheads in the Bay Area.

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You article on violent fascists in Thursdays Examiner was
generally good, in that it illuminated something that's being
ignored in our society, but also very misleading, and may even
put some of us in danger from would-be do-gooders. 

People cannot be reduced to clothing or haircuts, just as we
cannot be reduced to just skin color. This is dangerous, short-
cut thinking. 

The ``How to Spot a Skinhead'' drawing was simply wrong: you
cannot spot bigots by the way they dress. There are more bigots,
racists, anti-semites, fascists, etc. that wear ``normal
clothes'', in both numbers and proportion, than there are
otherwise. (Besides, fashion-wise, most skinheads wear surplus
nylon ``bomber jackets'', not leather or denim.) The drawing as
about as useful, and as amusing, as those ``How to Spot a
Preppy/Hippy/Whatever'' posters. 

The same sort of simplistic thinking is at work in many
``Neighborhood Watch'' programs, where neighbors are instructed
to report ``suspicious looking persons'' to the police;
frequently this means that a black person in a predominantly
white neighborhood is reported as ``suspicious looking'', out of
fear and ignorance, rather than overt racism.

For example, I have very short hair, a black leather jacket,
levis and Doc Martens. I am not a skinhead, a bigot or fascist,
nor am I a fag-basher; as a matter of fact I am gay. If you had
done a bit more research, you would have found that many, if not
most, people that wear funny haircuts, leather jackets, levis and
boots do more specifically anti-fascist work than many ``normal-
looking'' people; we volunteer for grassroots political groups,
support human rights in the US and abroad, do community service,
work at Rock Against Racism shows, all ages/drug free shows,
political protests, etc. Even if you don't agree with these
things, they are hardly bigoted or fascist acts. Also, the nasty
skinheads (as opposed to the OK ones) consider us their enemies,
too.

Fortunately or unfortunately, you have to interact with people in
some way to find out what their views are. Fact is, most wars
were started by white people who wear suits. These sort of people
have also done a large proportion of the atrocities against
fellow humans in recorded history. See how useful this process
is?


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Tom Jennings
San Francisco CA

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