Pagan author and blogger Lisa McSherry reacts quite strongly to a Salon.com article about the infiltration of Neo-Nazis into the military, specifically the assertion that an avowed Neo-Nazi’s Celtic Cross tattoo is racist.

“Excuse me, but there is NOTHING to relate the Celtic culture, and specifically the so-called Celtic Cross with Neo-Nazism, white supremacy, or any of that ilk. I mean, it’s totally wrong to do, but at least it’s understandable when people mistake Viking or Norse symbols for “white power’ symbols. But the CROSS? (Celtic or not)”

Here’s the offending passage in question from the article.

“Over a plate of chicken wings, he tells me about his path into the white-power movement. “I was 14 when I decided I wanted to be a Nazi,” he says. At his first high school, near Los Angeles, he was bullied by black and Latino kids. That’s when he first heard Skrewdriver, a band he calls “the godfather of the white power movement.” “I became obsessed,” he says. He had an image from one of Skrewdriver’s album covers — a Viking carrying a staff, an icon among white nationalists — tattooed on his left forearm. Soon after he had another white power symbol, a Celtic cross, emblazoned on his stomach.”

I don’t know if Lisa knows this, but the Celtic Cross has indeed been widely appropriated as a racist symbol. It is, in fact, the official symbol of the extremist/racist web community Stormfront.

“This is one of the most popular symbols for neo-Nazis and white supremacists. First popularized by the Ku Klux Klan, the symbol was later adopted by the National Front in England and other racists such as Don Black on his Web site, Stormfront, and the racist band Skrewdriver to represent international “white pride.” It is also known as Odin’s Cross. It is important to note that the Celtic Cross is used widely today in many mainstream and cultural contexts. No one should assume that a Celtic Cross, divorced from other trappings of extremism, automatically denotes use as a hate symbol.”

Because the Celtic Cross is so ubiquitous, and holds various meanings among various groups, it’s an easy symbol to explain away to military recruiters and other groups that screen for racist/extremist affiliations.

“Army regulations prohibit soldiers from participating in racist groups, and recruiters are instructed to keep an eye out for suspicious tattoos. Before signing on the dotted line, enlistees are required to explain any tattoos. At a Tampa recruitment office, though, Fogarty sailed right through the signup process. “They just told me to write an explanation of each tattoo, and I made up some stuff, and that was that,” he says. Soon he was posted to Fort Stewart in Georgia, where he became part of the 3rd Infantry Division.”

Of course, according to this Salon.com report, recruiters are so desperate to meet their quotas that they are willing to overlook swastikas and “SS bolts”, two symbols that are overwhelming associated with racist/Nazi idenity in the West. Further, the Celtic Pagan community has long had to deal with racist appropriation and racist authors trying to drum up support and sow dissention and confusion within the maintream of modern Paganism. So as much as it galls us to admit it, we must face the reality that many of our symbols, and not just Nordic/Germanic symbols, have and are being appropraited to the cause of racists. This is why it’s so important to constantly educate people, remain in the public eye, and speak out against the misuse of pre-Christian symbology.

Tags: Celtic Cross, Military, Paganism, racism, Salon.com