Marching with Skinheads & Punkrockers

I participated in the 26th Annual  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. March on January 21, 2013, in San Anto. I am here at Pittman-Sullivan Park with my Texas Oi! t-shirt. I can say that back in the day, the march has changed. The skinheads and punkrockers back in 1990 were not welcomed in the march cause they verbally attacked them for looking like White Power skinheads. I'd like to point out that my buddies who went to Brackenridge High School paved the way for us punkrockers/skinheads to stand up against racial prejudice. The stories I heard from Juan, Hela, and Erik about them not being welcomed is crazy, and they were my friends in the American Skinheads group from Brackenridge High School. I have been to several of the marches with my family but this year I went alone to accomplish this mission of telling the story of how punk rockers and skinheads once marched together at the Dr. King March. If we are to coexist as people, we must not have prejudice towards people due to the color of their skin. The times have changed, and President Obama is supporting Gay rights now. As you can see, the rainbow flag at the march was very visible. The march turned out to be a democratic agenda promoting President Obama's inauguration. Some of us punkrockers & skinheads may be Democratic or Republican, but because the march turned out to be supportive of the efforts of President Obama, many people did not want to attend?  I have been to many marches, mostly civil & human rights marches for indigenous rights. I have chanted songs like "Red, Brown, Black & White...Let the People all Unite!" Has the work of the S.H.A.R.P.s and Anti-Racist Action been washed ashore or did their work move up North to Austin, Texas. In San Anto, it has not been seen for years.  

Creating a Punk Rock jacket

The Art form of creating your own punk rock jacket, leatherette, battle armor, or expressive outer appearance of yourself in Making A Scene in San Anto has been lost. Today, most of the chit is already made for you at Hot Topic or other novelty stores in town. What happened to the good old days when you bought your leather jacket at a Western store and punked it out Suicidal Psycho Punk style? With the invention of the Internet, you can now buy studs & spikes online. The studs & spikes you carefully placed around your leather or denim jacket took time and energy; however, most belts are already made that way. The bleaching effort of denim jackets can relate to some hippie techniques with bleach bombs and rubber bands. Then drawing in the negative areas to sport your favorite logo, band name, or supportive scene group. Whatever the name of your group represents you in the scene so making your own jacket with colors is really important. We all want to be individuals, not sheep like everybody else with the same Hot Topic gear. In these crazy times, people have added wolf tails as part of a pack or click. I stay or prefer the old fashioned way of just keeping it simple. In this photo, my leather jacket has been gutted, the liner has been taken out, the sleeves have been removed, and Gesso paint has been added on the back for a design to be added soon.

If you decide to make your own punk rock jacket, be an original, do some online research, get your studs & spikes ready, get your design ready, but most importantly, take your time with the jacket cause the final product will represent you as an individual or part of the group in Making A Scene in San Anto. I am at the stage of collecting enough spikes & studs to complete my jacket, but my design is still being worked on by me. This is just a work in progress picture in which gesso has already been applied, then some acrylic paint will come next.  Making A Scene!