Kevin Philbrook Smith: "Real-world implications"

 

       Kevin Philbrook Smith, deputy director and chief curator of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at Brown University, writes on a social media archaeology group page: 

    “…The comical looking douchebag in the center of this group of losers has covered himself with Norse iconography – the valknut on his chest, a massive Thor's hammer pointed towards the tiny sore-hammer in his pants, and others including a Sonnenrad (used as the central icon on the tiled floor of SS headquarters' "generals' hall") on his left shoulder. His faux-Native American headdress links into assertions made by some of these groups that North America was the homeland of Aryan/White tribal ("folk/volk") groups, coast-to-coast, until it was overrun by Native Americans just a few centuries before Columbus; and therefore the post-medieval colonization and conquest of North America by Europeans is argued by them to be a justified "retaking" of Aryan lands while their anger against "political correctness" is their assertion of privilege to "restore" the Americas to these presumed Aryan roots. Many of these groups refer to all of North America as "Vinland", misappropriating the Norse sagas' discussions of limited, short-term exploration in a small part of the coastal far Northeast and using the fake Kensington Runestone, the Heavener runes, and "mooring holes" across the Plains as their evidence that Viking long-ships once sailed across the grasslands and up across the Rocky Mountains. As absurd as all of this bullshit is, the images of this asshole and his kind make it clear why supposedly "sober" discussions of Kensington, Spirit Pond, and other fakes' supposed authenticity are not necessarily naive or innocent explorations, but are often either implicitly racist at base or feed into racist, violent, and insurrectionist mythologies with real-world implications.

This flag, the so-called Vinland flag, designed by a Goth Metal band, has been appropriated by quite a few alt-Right, White Supremacist groups with an Aryan-nativist ideology and should be regarded with the same suspicion accorded a Confederate battle flag or Nazi flag seen out of context: 

  I first saw it on the Face Book profiles of some people from Oregon who wanted to join this group. Digging deeper into one of their profiles revealed a clear linkage through prison gangs and “liked” books on insurrection, manuals on how to identify and kill “race-enemies”, militia warfare manuals, etc

    Lest we assume that White Supremacist iconography misappropriated from the past is only linked to Norse symbolism, the Celtic Cross has been adopted as one of the most ubiquitous white supremacist symbols. When reproduced in red and black, the colors most heavily used by the Nazi regime, or in green/white/black (the “Vinland” colors) one should be immediately concerned because a conscious decisi on was made to use that specific symbol with those specific colors.

    Unfortunately, I have had to learn more about this than I would have liked to know...both from looking into the profiles of people who want to join this group and from hosting three small Viking themed events more than 10 years ago with researchers and re-enactors at my museum. The first two were peaceful but two weeks before the third one I was notified by law enforcement and the Anti-Defamation League that Stormfront and other neo-Nazi groups were planning to attend, march, and possibly take over the event. I had to spend two weeks monitoring hate speech, reading posts I never wanted to see, learning coded phrases to understand what was being said, and adding undercover and armed security to the event. We suspected that one of the groups participating in the event must have had at least one member who wore white sheets when not being a Viking, since these were small, local events promoted before FB and social media and the posts on Stormfront included details that would not have been easily known to anyone but the participants.

    For those interested in being aware, this is a good database of hate-group symbols (hand signals, tattoos, flags, and more) – not all of which are Norse or Celtic, but you will find some familiar emblems that have been misappropriated among them, and might want to be aware whenever you see them:"

 https://www.adl.org/hate-symbols