The 4 Skins are racist?

If you haven't already heard the news, there has been a huge blow-up over the new 4 Skins album, "The Return." People have denounced them as Nazis, as nationalists, so on and so forth. However, they have also profusely said that they are not Nazis.

However, is this new album political? Yes, It is very political. Is it nationalist? Yes, it has strong nationalist undertones. Is it racist? Not that I can tell. And there you have it folks. The 4 Skins are playing with ex-Nazis, RAC bands, and right-wingers. However, that does not necessarily make them a racist or Nazi band.

As a leftist, I make no bones about the fact that I do not like this album for its lyrics or the fact that the vocals and instrumentation sounds like crap, but that is my opinion. Now, some have said that the song "Take No More" features anti-immigrant lyrics. However, these also deceptively cut out the term "illegal" in front of the term immigrants. Now, I'm all for one against this sort of ignorance in our scene, but lets be honest, they are ranting about illegal-immigrants, not just immigrants. In fact, many people in the U.S., who are not racist also want immigrants to live here legally. Does that make them racist? Not necessarily because a person can be against illegal immigration, but be for immigration reform.

The attack from my fellow leftists is ridiculous. Sure, they are right wing now, but that does not make them Nazis. This needs to be an important distinction within music. I may not agree with the politics of the right wing, but if they are willing to take a stance against racists and Nazis, then I will stand with them on that issue. I may not agree politically, but I can agree with them that we both hate racists and Nazis who give us a bad name.

There is also the issue of nationalism. This is one I have to defeat constantly. You can technically be a leftist and be a nationalist, as easily as you can be a right-winger and one too. Nationalism is nothing more than taking a public stance that you are proud of your nation, and that you want to support your nation because you believe that your nation has something special that you would like to share with the world. Does that make you fascist? No. Does that make you a Nazi? NO. Does that make you a racist? NO! Can nationalist be attached to racism? Yes, but that does not mean that a person is a right-wing, racist, Nazi. Nationalism is not synonymous with Nazism or fascism. Don't believe me, look it up in Merriam-Webster!

However, many RAC bands are Nazis and fascists. This is important to remember as the 4 Skins comes back full-swing. So although I am giving this current album a pass, I refuse to NOT pay attention to some of the undertones presented in some of their songs. They are treading a fine line that we all need to be careful about, but lets wait until they are actually Nazis before we call them that. Nothing makes a person join a movement faster than marginalizing him or her for political gain. I would argue that the concern of Oire Szene deserves some merit. They are definitely playing with unsavory characters, but I am willing to give unsavory characters a chance if they truly want to change themselves for the better. Until they cross that line and support racism, I cannot justify calling them that.

With that said, the album just sucks. Then again, check it out for yourself.