Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
'OK' Hand Gesture, 'Bowlcut' Added to Hate Symbols Database
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
September 26, 2019

Share

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — The “OK” hand gesture, a mass killer’s bowl-style haircut and an anthropomorphic moon wearing sunglasses are among 36 new entries in a Jewish civil rights group’s online database of hate symbols used by white supremacists and other far-right extremists.

“Even as extremists continue to use symbols that may be years or decades old, they regularly create new symbols, memes and slogans to express their hateful sentiments.” Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt 
The Anti-Defamation League has added the symbols to its online “Hate on Display” database, which already includes burning crosses, Ku Klux Klan robes, the swastika and many other of the most notorious and overt symbols of racism and anti-Semitism.
The New York City-based group launched the database in 2000 to help law enforcement officers, school officials and others recognize signs of extremist activity. It has grown to include nearly 200 entries.
“Even as extremists continue to use symbols that may be years or decades old, they regularly create new symbols, memes and slogans to express their hateful sentiments,” Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement.
Some of the new entries started as trolling campaigns or hateful memes on internet message boards such as 4chan, 8chan and Reddit, before migrating to Facebook, Twitter and other mainstream platforms, and to public forums and fliers.

Thinking the Fingers Formed the Letters ‘W’ and ‘P’ to Mean ‘White Power’

The ADL has updated its database to include the “OK” hand symbol, which became fodder for a 4chan trolling campaign to dupe viewers into thinking the fingers formed the letters “W” and “P” to mean “white power.” But the ADL says extremists also are using it as a sincere expression of white supremacy.
Brenton Tarrant, the Australian man charged with killing 51 people at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March, flashed the “OK” symbol during a courtroom appearance after his arrest. Tarrant also had the number 14 written on his rifle, a possible reference to the “14 Words,” a white supremacist slogan, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Oren Segal, director of the ADL’s Center on Extremism, said context is key to interpreting whether an “OK” symbol is hateful or harmless. He said the ADL had been reluctant to add it to the database “because ‘OK’ has meant just ‘OK’ for so long.”
“At this point, there is enough of a volume of use for hateful purposes that we felt it was important to add,” Segal said.
An earlier addition to the database was Pepe the Frog, a cartoon character that became hijacked by online extremists who superimposed the frog with Nazi symbols and other hateful imagery. The ADL branded Pepe as a hate symbol in September 2016 and supported cartoonist Matt Furie’s efforts to reclaim the character he created.

Roof’s Bowl-Style Hair Became an Avatar for Extremists

The “Happy Merchant,” one of the new database entries, is an anti-Semitic meme that depicts a stereotypical image of a bearded Jewish man rubbing his hands together. Another addition, the “Moon Man” meme, is derived from “Mac Tonight,” a character in a McDonald’s advertising campaign during the 1980s. Internet trolls transformed the sunglasses-wearing cartoon moon into a vehicle for rap songs with racist and violent lyrics.

The ADL also added the “Dylann Roof Bowlcut,” an image of the hairstyle worn by the white supremacist who shot and killed nine black people in 2015 at a church in Charleston, South Carolina.
The ADL also added the “Dylann Roof Bowlcut,” an image of the hairstyle worn by the white supremacist who shot and killed nine black people in 2015 at a church in Charleston, South Carolina.
Roof’s bowl-style hair became an avatar for extremists, including a Washington, D.C., man whose relatives contacted the FBI to report concerns about his behavior and far-right extremist rhetoric after last year’s Pittsburgh synagogue massacre. Jeffrey Clark’s username on the Gab social media platform was “DC Bowl Gang,” an FBI agent wrote in a court filing for gun charges against Clark.
Logos of white nationalist groups including the Rise Above Movement and the American Identity Movement also are among the new ADL database entries.
The recently formed American Identity Movement is the successor to the now-dissolved Identity Evropa, which frequently plastered its white nationalist propaganda on college campuses and is one of the groups that has been sued over the violence that erupted at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia , in August 2017.
Four members of the California-based Rise Above Movement pleaded guilty this year to attacking counterprotesters at the Charlottesville rally. A federal judge sentenced three of them to prison terms ranging from 27 months to 37 months.

DON'T MISS

Caitlin Clark and Iowa Draw Nearly 5 Million Viewers for Second-Round NCAA Win

DON'T MISS

Canadian School Boards Sue Snapchat, TikTok and Meta for Disrupting Students’ Education

DON'T MISS

California Law Enforcement Agencies Obstruct Transparency Efforts in Use-of-Force Cases

DON'T MISS

No Police Charges for Taylor Swift’s Dad Over Paparazzi Incident in Sydney

DON'T MISS

Biden Administration to Lend $1.5B to Restart Michigan Nuclear Power Plant, a First in the US

DON'T MISS

Tonight’s Biden Fundraiser With Obama and Clinton Already Nets a Record $25 Million

DON'T MISS

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, Democrats’ VP Pick in 2000, Dead at 82

DON'T MISS

Trump Criticizes Judge and His Daughter After Gag Order in Hush-Money Case

DON'T MISS

Police Had About 90 Seconds to Stop Traffic Before Baltimore Bridge Fell. 6 Workers Are Feared Dead

DON'T MISS

NBC Has Cut Ties With Former RNC Head Ronna McDaniel After Employee Objections, Some on the Air

No data was found

Facebook News Tab Will Soon Be Unavailable as Meta Scales Back News and Political Content

16 hours ago

Stock Market Today: Wall Street Rises to More Records to Close Out Its Latest Winning Month

16 hours ago

A Fresno County First: Kerman Council Passes Amended Gaza Cease-Fire Resolution

16 hours ago

UN Top Court Orders Israel to Open More Land Crossings for Aid into Gaza

16 hours ago

How Involved Is Southern California Consulting Firm in FUSD Executive Dealings?

16 hours ago

Biden’s Fundraiser with Obama and Clinton Nets a Record $25 Million, His Campaign Says

17 hours ago

Fresno Unified’s Self-Protection Racket Is Hurting Our Kids

17 hours ago

Rockin’ Out or Laughing, the Valley Has Its Pick of Weekend Events

18 hours ago

Ex-Correctional Officer at Women’s Prison in California Sentenced for Sexually Abusing Inmates

20 hours ago

Caitlin Clark and Iowa Draw Nearly 5 Million Viewers for Second-Round NCAA Win

21 hours ago

PGA HOPE at Riverside Golf Course Introduces Military Veterans to the Game

PGA HOPE, now underway at Fresno’s Riverside Golf Course, is designed to introduce golf to veterans and active duty military members t...

14 hours ago

PGA HOPE at Fresno's Riverside Golf Course
14 hours ago

PGA HOPE at Riverside Golf Course Introduces Military Veterans to the Game

15 hours ago

Cronenworth’s Big Hit Helps Lift the Padres to a 6-4 Win Over Melvin’s Giants

16 hours ago

Shohei Ohtani Reaches 3 Times in Home Debut as the Dodgers Rout the Cardinals 7-1

16 hours ago

Facebook News Tab Will Soon Be Unavailable as Meta Scales Back News and Political Content

16 hours ago

Stock Market Today: Wall Street Rises to More Records to Close Out Its Latest Winning Month

16 hours ago

A Fresno County First: Kerman Council Passes Amended Gaza Cease-Fire Resolution

16 hours ago

UN Top Court Orders Israel to Open More Land Crossings for Aid into Gaza

16 hours ago

How Involved Is Southern California Consulting Firm in FUSD Executive Dealings?

MENU

CONNECT WITH US

Search

Send this to a friend