ABSTRACT
The mythos surrounding white power groups, such as racist skinheads, requires a critical analysis. This is especially true for demystifying the belief that, white power youth groups (i.e., alt-right gangs) are substantially different from conventional street gangs. This chapter aims to critically evaluate the existing gang definitions used by academics and the criminal justice system to rectify the apathy of attention by traditional gang scholars and law enforcement to the white power gang problem. This disconnect is most notably observed in the absence or under-reporting of white gang members in gang databases throughout jurisdictions across the United States. This legacy of underpolicing of alt-right gang members by legal authorities and/or racist policies is known as “white supremacy in policing.” The public resurgence of the white power movement with alt-right gangs (e.g., Proud Boys) participating in mass demonstrations and protests across liberal and progressive urban centers throughout the United States and abroad concerns community residents, policy makers, and practitioners. Yet, the lack of knowledge about how to deal with the members of these alt-right gangs is a problematic and a growing concern. Additionally, the premise that alt-right gangs as a domestic terrorist organization driven solely by racist, ideology greatly overestimates how rudimentary and unrefined the beliefs that loosely bind members together actually are. For instance, it is not uncommon for alt-right gangs to have non-white members who are drawn in by the groups’ misogyny and male supremacism. Similar distorted perceptions of existing in an organized way to achieve a common goal have existed for a variety of street gangs (e.g., Bloods, Crips, Folks, Peoples) and even transnational organizations (e.g., Mara Salvatrucha [MS-13]), exerting control over gang sets in every urban city across the globe. This misperception has tainted public perception and policy responses to these groups. As such, the use of ideology as a reason to limit the inclusion of white power youth in gang studies has impacted how gang researchers study white power groups, how they train law enforcement about street gangs, and the policies they support and help implement.
