Racist Skins, or Their Copycats, Cause Concern

Connie Washam, 38, married and mother of three, describes herself as a WASP (white Anglo-Saxon Protestant)--in her words, “a real All-American whitey.”

So, she was surprised recently to find that her house and four others on War Horse Street in Rancho Penasquitos had been spray-painted with what neighbors said was racist graffiti.

“We have black, Latino and Filipino families living on the street, but none of their homes was affected,” Washam said. “It’s the strangest thing. . . . Police said it was more than likely kids on the fringes of a gang, copying the Skins. They don’t seem to think it was the Skins who did this.”

A Loose-Knit Gang

The Skins--or Skinheads, as they are sometimes called because they shave their heads and wear leather clothing--are a loose-knit gang consisting of as many as 25 to 40 members in San Diego County who police say were responsible for anti-Semitic graffiti being scrawled on synagogues and Jewish centers earlier this year.

Since then, several incidents of anti-Semitic graffiti have been reported across the county, and, in one case, police said a cross was found burning in the front yard of a home owned by a black family in Tierrasanta. Police say they aren’t sure whether such acts are the direct work of the Skins or merely pranks committed by “copycats.”

For whatever reason, a similar incident occurred sometime overnight in mid-August on Washam’s street in Rancho Penasquitos.

“We don’t know who did it,” said San Diego police Lt. Paul Ybarrondo. “It wasn’t as though the vandals were specifying targets or picking on one person, which is more the tendency of the Skins. They tend to target racial or minority groups. One of the houses in Penasquitos was vacant, which doesn’t make any sense, given the Skins’ pattern. We think it was maybe one group copycatting another.”

Morris Casuto is head of the San Diego chapter of the Anti-Defamation League. Casuto said the incident in Rancho Penasquitos was probably not the work of the Skins, nor could it be linked to the defacement of synagogues and a Jewish community center in February.

“If Jews had been involved (in Rancho Penasquitos), we would have gotten calls, and we haven’t gotten calls,” Casuto said. “From the way the neighbors sound, this was a stupid, childish prank and nothing more.”

A Growing Presence

Nevertheless, Casuto said, the Skins--or War Skins, as he called them--are a growing presence in San Diego County and must be taken seriously.

“Their ugly little stickers (with racist slogans) are showing up all over the place,” he said. “I think they’re a takeoff on Tom Metzger’s White Aryan Resistance (WAR). They represent Metzger’s attempt to organize a small group of haters into an ostensible organization.”

Metzger was a national leader in the Ku Klux Klan before leaving in 1983 to form the White Aryan Resistance. In 1980, he won the Democratic primary in the 43rd Congressional District, but lost to incumbent Clair Burgener in the general election. Metzger has been identified by the FBI and other agencies as a national leader in the white supremacist movement.

Casuto said “there is no question” in his mind that Metzger is behind the Skins, adding that “Metzger and his philosophy are the catalyst for these people. In this case, he may be creating something he’s not able to control. In the past, Metzger has been careful to avoid physical confrontation. With the Skins, the game is based entirely on violent confrontation.”

Reached at his home in Fallbrook, Metzger reacted angrily to Casuto’s comments, saying: “Morris Casuto is a . . . jerk. I have very little opinion of him at all. He’s a kosher ambulance chaser. This thing is so much bigger than Casuto has any idea of. You have young people upset and angry all over the country.”

Marcy Heuchert, 17, and Tim Wallace, 18, number themselves among the “upset and angry” youths known as Skinheads. Both had just watched a recent showing of “The Last Temptation of Christ,” wearing what they described as satanic T-shirts. Wallace’s depicted a cross surrounded by fire.

Neither Wallace nor Heuchert has a shaved head, nor did either wear leather or chains. Skinheads embody “many different variations,” Wallace said, agreeing with Casuto that Metzger is behind one group of Skins known as War Skins.

“But they didn’t do the thing in Rancho Penasquitos, nor did any group that we know anything about,” Wallace said. “That was done by Skinhead imitators, just copying what we do. We don’t care for that, mainly because they’re so amateurish.”

Metzger said his organization distributes the stickers that end up in the hands of Skins, “but where they put them is their business. I don’t even know what’s going on half the time. . . . I have never advocated anybody spray-painting anybody’s house. I wouldn’t want my house spray-painted. That’s the same as the old canard about burning a cross in someone’s yard. It’s stupid; it wouldn’t gain you anything.”

Even though Metzger, 50, conceded that his 20-year-old son, John, has been identified by the Center for Democratic Renewal as a national leader of Skinheads, he said he has “no idea” who spray-painted in Rancho Penasquitos or anywhere else.

“And if I run into anybody who’s done such a thing, I’ll tell them it’s ridiculous,” Metzger said.

“I know Skinheads all over the country, and they’re really fine people. They’re a takeoff on the Skinheads of Britain, who got fed up with nonwhites taking over their country. Young people here are starting to have the same reaction.”

Asked whether he might have contributed to Skinhead crime at least indirectly, Metzger said that, “since I hopefully influence a lot of people from all walks of life, I hope I’ve influenced Skinheads. But when Casuto accuses me of being responsible for everything on everybody’s agenda, he’s being a little naive and silly.”

Casuto said the Skins were responsible for the recent beating of an Asian youth in Hillcrest and that two had pleaded guilty in the case to assault with a deadly weapon. Ybarrondo, the police spokesman, confirmed the incident, saying that Skins have also targeted homosexuals in Hillcrest.

He said the Skins are “offshoots of the original Skinheads of Britain,” who, in the late 1970s, were linked to many beatings of Pakistanis and Indians living in London.

Ybarrondo said many of San Diego’s Skins live or “hang out” along El Cajon Boulevard, between 55th and 60th streets.

“You can recognize them,” he said. “They look like Skinheads--literally. They shave it right down to the scalp. They’re heavily tattooed and carry Nazi paraphernalia. They’re not like some street gangs, such as those among blacks and Latinos, in which the numbers are really big. We’re talking maybe 2 dozen people here.

“There’s interest in the Skins because of incidents like this,” Ybarrondo said. “Because of the violence imposed in such acts, people get upset--understandably so. Whether it’s as big a problem as the graffiti suggests is hard to say. I do know that Skins and other such groups thrive on publicity--just the kind that incidents like these seem to generate.

“I won’t say that racist or KKK-type groups, regardless of age, are a big problem in San Diego, but sure, such groups exist and may be growing,” he said. “They’re not a big problem now , but we do keep tabs. We monitor such groups closely and carefully. We keep an eye on them all the time.”

Swastika on Stop Sign

On a recent afternoon, no Skinheads were present along El Cajon Boulevard between 55th and 60th, but the walls in the alleyways were defaced with racist graffiti. Residents, who asked not to be quoted by name, said Skinheads were to blame.

A stop sign at El Cajon Boulevard and 58th Street bore a swastika and the words White Power, Beware! The initials KKK and SWP (for Supreme White Power) were mixed with anti-black messages.

Jovan Stijepovic, 14, and Michael Brown, 14, said they attend nearby Hoover High School. Hoover has its share of Skinheads, both said, as does the eclectic area along El Cajon Boulevard, complete with business colleges, striptease joints, churches and gun shops.

“A lot of them hang out around here,” Stijepovic said, “but a lot of Skinheads live in Rancho Penasquitos and Rancho Bernardo. That’s where you hear the most about ‘em.”

“L.A. is full of them, too,” Brown said. “Here you see a lot of them on the beaches.”

But, wherever they congregate, Casuto said, Skins and their imitators should be exposed.

“Ignoring them is not the response,” Casuto said. “Regardless of who committed these incidents, in Penasquitos or elsewhere, it’s important to realize that such groups are here and pose a danger to the entire community--not just the minority community.

“It’s hard to conceive of this as ‘America’s Finest City’ when such groups run rampant,” he said.