A Small List of Symbols
Even small modern political events have dozens of symbols, many of which are only understood by people who are very politically involved. Everybody comes across symbols they don’t recognize.
This is a summary that will get you a general basis to work from as you learn more symbols, and it falls far short of complete. For a searchable, larger database of hate symbols, consider the Anti-Defamation League’s Hate Symbol Database and tools like the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hate Map. Two items sharing space on this page does not mean they are similar in any way.
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161 = AFA = Anti-Fascist Action.
1312 = ACAB = All Cops Are Bastards (sometimes cheekily coded “All Cats Are Beautiful”).
Queers Bash Back is a slogan that reminds anti-Queer and anti-Trans attackers that the Queer community has a long history of resilience and fighting back, despite often being seen as a “soft target”. Sometimes used as a call and response with “Queer Means Attack”.
A lot of graffiti, signs, pins, etc. use the names of people related to their cause. Heather Heyer was an antifascist who was murdered by a fascist car attack during the Charlottesville Unite the Right rally in 2017. John Brown (1800-1859) was a revolutionary abolitionist who saw decades of peaceful efforts fail to abolish the American enslavement of Black people, and decided to take violent action for freedom, raiding plantations and arming the newly freed. When it comes to names, search engines like Google are your friend. There are too many martyrs, advocates, historical figures, philosophers, and others to mention here. Some of the most common names to see are victims of bigoted violence, specifically that of police, and we believe that making a “quick highlights list” of those people is not a respectful thing to do.
Sources for Page One
Loewen, James W. (2008). Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong
Romo, Vanessa (December 7, 2018). "Charlottesville Jury Convicts 'Unite The Right' Protester Who Killed Woman". NPR.
Korff, Gottfried (Fall 1992). "From Brotherly Handshake to Militant Clenched Fist: On Political Metaphors for the Worker's Hand". International Labor and Working-Class History.
Delli Carpini, Michael X. (2000). "Black Panther Party: 1966-1982"
"Roots of the ARA". Southern Poverty Law Center. September 10, 2013.
“WE GO WHERE THEY GO, THE STORY OF ANTI-RACIST ACTION” By Shannon Clay, Kristin Schwartz, and Michael Staudenmaier.
"What's this with a black cat & a wooden shoe? What do they have to do with anarchy?". Left Bank Books Collective. Seattle: Left Bank Books.
Abdul-Raheem, Tajudeen (ed.), Pan Africanism: Politics, Economy and Social Change in the Twenty-first Century, New York University Press, 1996.
Kaur, Harmeet; Mullery, Will (June 19, 2020). "The Juneteenth flag is full of symbols. Here's what they mean". CNN.
Squatting Symbol Example “Rome Barricades Itself!” Wikimedia Commons, 29 November 2016, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Squatting_Graffiti_in_Rome.jpg