The Sikh Temple Shooter’s Racist Tattoos, Deciphered

Wade Michael PagePhoto courtesy of Anti-Defamation League.

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Law enforcement officials in Wisconsin say that Wade Michael Page’s tattoos tipped them off to the possibility that his shooting spree in a Sikh temple was domestic terrorism. But what exactly did those tattoos tell them? Using photos of Wade from his white-power band’s Myspace page, it’s possible to see what concerned police: Much of his body reads like a poster text for white nationalism.

In particular, a tattoo on Page’s left shoulder (pictured below) suggests he was a committed devotee of white-power ideology. The tattoo consists of a large “14” in Gothic lettering superimposed on a black cross in a circle. The cross, known elsewhere as “Odin’s Cross,” is “one of the most popular symbols for neo-Nazis and white supremacists,” according to the Anti-Defamation League. It’s also used as a logo by Stormfront.org, one of the world’s most-visited racist web forums.

Wade Michael Page, with a white-power tattoo visible on his shoulder. MyspaceWade Michael Page, with a white-power tattoo visible on his shoulder Myspace

The “14” itself is particularly telling: It’s a reference to “the 14 words,” a racist credo first set down by David Lane, the cofounder of a white nationalist terror group known as The Order. (The Order—whose name was inspired by a similar group immortalized in William Luther Pierce’s racist novel, The Turner Diaries, a favorite of Timothy McVeigh’s—has been active for nearly 30 years and was implicated in the 1984 murder of Alan Berg, a liberal Jewish radio host.)

As formulated by Lane, the 14 words are reportedly inspired by a longer passage from Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and form the basis for Lane’s “88 Precepts” (PDF), in which he lays out The Order’s founding philosophy—including its condemnation of homosexuality, abortion, and “mixing and destruction of the founding race.” (88, too, has special significance for neo-Nazis and other white hate groups.)

In their entirety, the 14 words—commemorated on Page’s skin—read: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.”

Mother Jones has also obtained a copy of a 2010 interview with Page, courtesy of the Southern Poverty Law Center, conducted by his band’s white-power record distributor, Label 56—you can read the full text below.

In the interview, Page describes how he traveled to Southern California to play bass for a series of skinhead bands called Youngland, Celtic Warrior, Radikahl, Max Resist, Intimidation One, Aggressive Force, and Blue Eyed Devils. He also spoke openly about the frustrations with society that led him to start his own racist band, End Apathy, in 2005. “A lot of what I realized at the time was that if we could figure out how to end peoples apathetic ways it would be the start towards moving forward,” he said. “Of course after that it requires discipline, strict discipline to stay the course in our sick society.”

Update: For more info on Page’s tats—including a 9/11 tribute and a Confederate stars and bars—check out The New Yorker and Lawyers, Guns & Money. And for a full rundown on the Sikh temple shooting, jump over to our explainer.

 

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate