More than 30 years ago, when the Skinheads were a thing and one of them established headquarters at a house in Baltimore, Leonard Zeskind was the expert we turned to for the full story. Who were these guys handing out leaflets in Hampden? What was their movement all about? Where did such openly racist young men come from? Zeskind had the answers.
Skinheads were the “street warriors for Klan groups,” he said, speaking as research director for the Center for Democratic Renewal, an organization that kept watch on extremist groups that espoused racial hatred. “These kids like to fight.”
At the time, I’m not sure law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, were paying as much attention as Zeskind was to the emerging white nationalist movement that appeared to be inspired by the KKK. Zeskind devoted years to tracking the Klan and the new groups that, with the ascendance of Trump, have marched and carried torches and guns in the cause of white supremacy.
“For a nice Jewish boy, I’ve gone to more Klan rallies, neo-Nazi events and Posse Comitatus things than anybody should ever have to,” Zeskind told The Times in 2018.
Zeskind, whose death April 15 at age 75 was reported last week in The Times and The Post, was born in Baltimore, but spent most of his youth elsewhere. His book, “Blood and Politics” offered deep insight into how white nationalists moved from the fringes of society into the mainstream. In the book, Zeskind predicted the rise of the anti-immigrant politics we’re seeing today and warned that the movement could turn violent.
Zeskind’s book was one of more than 300 that the Trump Regime recently purged from the library at the U.S. Naval Academy.
Zeskind believed that Trump was the result, not the cause, of the white nationalist movement. He also believed that racism, and not economic distress, was the main driver of it. Low-income whites, he said, comprised only a small percentage of the gathering mob. “The white nationalist movement looks like a demographic slice of white people in the United States,” he said. “And economics doesn’t have much to do with this. It’s about race.”
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Dan Rodricks 
this reminds me of the Nazi book burning.books included those by Jewish, communist, socialist, and other authors. The German Student Union organized these ceremonial book burnings.
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I think a lot of people like saying it’s economic distress that caused the nationalist movement. They tell themselves stories, but deep down, anyone who voted for Trump was able to stomach him and all his hatred and hatefulness.
Pamela Tanton
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Yet another great, informative piece today, Dan. I will spread your good words.
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Great column. As a lawyer, I’ve represented folks who became white supremicists either in prison or in their neighborhoods. Fear seems to be the big motivator. Trump os providing the bogeyman. Absent some continuing courage from journalists and lawyers, the US will end up as the 4th reich. Alan L. Winik, Esq. Law Offices of Alan L. Winik, LLC 19 North Court Street Suite 101 Frederick, Maryland 21701 301.694.6336 fx 301.662.8649 cell 717.965.9939
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Seen from faraway Amsterdam, Netherlands, tge racism argument is pervasive. Blaming everything on economics seems too sterile. Greetings! Roland de Ligny
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Zeskind and I belonged to the same political organization back in the day. Truth and Revolution: A History of Sojourner Truth Organization 1969-1986 by Michael Staudenmaier. Lenny did not cooperate with Staudenmaier and his role in STO is not adequately reflected in the book, though Blood and Politics is mentioned in a footnote. I recall holding Lenny’s glasses when he confronted a picket-line-crossing scab during a Kansas City Steel strike (1978?).
Ed
Atty. Edward A. Voci One River Place 758 North Larrabee St., #311 Chicago IL 60654 voice 708-256-8624 text 312-900-1483 vocilaw@mac.com
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