Hate on Display™ Hate Symbols Database

This database provides an overview of many of the symbols most frequently used by a variety of white supremacist groups and movements, as well as some other types of hate groups.

71 Results

Peckerwood

Hate Symbol

ALTERNATE NAMES: Wood, Woodpile, PWThe word "peckerwood" originated as an African-American slang term for "woodpecker" in the 1800s, but by the early 1900s began to be applied as a racial epithet against whites, with a meaning similar to the term "white trash." In the second half of the 20th century, in prison environments in Texas, California, and possibly elsewhere, the word peckerwood, originally used to refer to white prisoners generally, began to develop a more specific association with…

ALTERNATE NAMES: Wood, Woodpile, PW

Pepe the Frog

Hate Symbol

Pepe the Frog is a popular internet meme used in a variety of contexts. In recent years it has also been appropriated by white supremacists, particularly those from the "alt right," who use in racist, antisemitic or other hateful contexts.

ALTERNATE NAMES: Sad Frog

Phineas Priesthood

Hate Symbol

ALTERNATE NAMES: Phinehas PriesthoodThe concept of the Phineas Priesthood (or Phinehas Priesthood) comes from a 1990 book by white supremacist and Christian Identity follower Richard Kelly Hoskins, Vigilantes of Christendom: The Story of the Phineas Priesthood. Christian Identity is a racist and anti-Semitic sect whose adherents believe that white people are descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel. In his book, Hoskins describes a continuous priesthood of "avengers" who, throughout the…

ALTERNATE NAMES: Phinehas Priesthood

Pit Bull

Hate Symbol

The pit bull has long been used as a skinhead symbol, presumably because of its reputation as a "fighting" dog. Many racist skinheads and other white supremacists own or even raise pit bulls. White supremacists use one specific pit bulll graphic so often that it has become a white supremacist symbol itself. One racist skinhead group, the Keystone State Skinheads (at one time known as Keystone United) even adopted it as part of their logo. Additional Images:

RAHOWA

Hate Symbol

RAHOWA is an acronym for "Racial Holy War," a term created by the Creativity Movement, a white supremacist pseudo-religion, as a rallying cry for the white supremacist cause.

ROA

Hate Symbol

ROA is an acronym for the white supremacist slogan "Race Over All," popularized by the neo-Nazi/racist skinhead gang Volksfront. Additional Images:

Rock Against Communism

Hate Symbol

ALTERNATE NAMES: RACRock Against Communism (RAC) is a euphemism used to refer to several types of white power/hate music (typically Oi! or hatecore punk). Despite its name, RAC more often than not contains no references to "Communism" at all, but focuses on racism and anti-Semitism. The term emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s, after rock music promoters in Great Britain put on a series of "Rock against Racism" concerts. In response, various white supremacist bands led by Ian Stuart and…

ALTERNATE NAMES: RAC

Runic Writing (racist)

Hate Symbol

Runic alphabets are pre-Roman alphabets used widely across Europe, easily recognizable because of their angular characters. There are many different varieties of runic alphabets, of which the most well known is the so-called Elder Futhark (the name is derived from the sounds of the first six characters). Runic alphabets are still used today in many mainstream and non-racist contexts. However, white supremacists have also appropriated the runic alphabet, in large part because Nazi Germany often…

Skrewdriver

Hate Symbol

Skrewdriver, long defunct, is the British white power music band that essentially created white power music as a genre. The band, and its deceased leader, Ian Stuart Donaldson, remain held in the highest esteem by white supremacists.

Sonnenrad

Hate Symbol

ALTERNATE NAMES: Sunwheel, Black SunThe sonnenrad or sunwheel is one of a number of ancient European symbols appropriated by the Nazis in their attempt to invent an idealized "Aryan/Norse" heritage. The sonnenrad appears in the traditional symbology of many countries and cultures, including Old Norse and Celtic cultures. It has countless variations; the swastika and similar rounded variants are actually sonnenrad forms, as are certain versions of the Celtic Cross. In Nazi Germany, the Nazi…

ALTERNATE NAMES: Sunwheel, Black Sun

South African Flag (Apartheid Era)

Hate Symbol

In 1928, a few years after unionization, South Africa adopted its first national flag, which consisted of a past version of the flag of the Netherlands combined with miniature flags representing the different colonies that came together to form South Africa. After the end of apartheid, South Africa adopted a new national flag in 1994, as the previous flag had come to symbolize the apartheid regime. Since 1994, white supremacists in South Africa and elsewhere around the world, including the…

SS Bolts

Hate Symbol

White supremacy and the SS Bolts. Find out the history of the neo-Nazi SS Bolts, and the current usage of one of the most powerful hate symbols in history.

ALTERNATE NAMES: Cracker Bolts, SS Lightning Bolts, Lightning Bolts

St. Michael’s Cross

Hate Symbol

St. Michael’s Cross is a white supremacist symbol that originated in Romania in the years before World War II as the symbol of the fascist Iron Guard movement.

ALTERNATE NAMES: Archangel Michael's Cross, Iron Guard

Stormfront

Hate Symbol

Stormfront is the oldest and largest white supremacist website on the Internet. Its logo consists of a squarish Celtic Cross encircled by the phrase "White Pride World Whide."

Swastika

Hate Symbol

The swastika is an ancient symbol used in many cultures that was adopted by Adolf Hitler and turned into a symbol of hatred. Since then, the swastika has become perhaps the most notorious hate symbol in Western culture.

The Happy Merchant

Hate Symbol

The Happy Merchant is a very common antisemitic meme popularized by the alt right, featuring a person with exaggerated stereotypically Jewish features and grasping hands, meant to convey a “greedy Jew.”

ALTERNATE NAMES: Jew Face, Merchant Face, Le Happy Merchant

The Order

Hate Symbol

The Order was an American white supremacist terrorist group from the early to mid-1980s which committed assassinations, armored car robberies and bombings for several years before being brought down by law enforcement.

ALTERNATE NAMES: Silent Brotherhood, Brüder Schweigen

Thor's Hammer

Hate Symbol

The Thor's Hammer or Hammer of Thor is an ancient Norse symbol. In Norse mythology, Thor is the god of thunder and his hammer (called Mjölnir) has the power of lightning. During the era of Viking ascendancy, miniature Thor's Hammers were often used as religious amulets. Today, the Hammer is a major symbol for those who follow neo-Norse religions such as Asatru. Although its traditional origins are non-racist, and although most Asatruers today are not racist, the Thor's Hammer…

TND and TKD

Hate Symbol

TND and TKD are abbreviations for (respectively) racist and antisemitic slogans referring to the mass death or killing of Black people and Jews.

Triangular Klan Symbol

Hate Symbol

The triangular Ku Klux Klan symbol looks like a triangle within a triangle but is actually three letter K's aligned in a triangle and facing inwards.

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All the symbols depicted here must be evaluated in the context in which they appear. Few symbols represent just one idea or are used exclusively by one group. For example, the Confederate Flag is a symbol that is frequently used by white supremacists but which also has been used by people and groups that are not racist. Similarly, other symbols in this database may be significant to people who are not extreme or racist. The descriptions here point out significant multiple meanings but may not be able to relay every possible meaning of a particular symbol.

Hate on Display is a trademark of the Anti-Defamation League.

Hate on Display™ Hate Symbols Database

Peckerwood

Pepe the Frog

Phineas Priesthood

Pit Bull

RAHOWA

ROA

Rock Against Communism

Runic Writing (racist)

Skrewdriver

Sonnenrad

South African Flag (Apartheid Era)

SS Bolts

St. Michael’s Cross

Stormfront

Swastika

The Happy Merchant

The Order

Thor's Hammer

TND and TKD

Triangular Klan Symbol

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