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Unblurred face of 'new' skinheads

Unlike other members of the Keystone State Skinheads, Keith Carney's face isn't blurred in online photographs and his name isn't concealed to hide his identity.

Philadelphian Keith Carney is a member of the Keystone State Skinheads, which he joined soon after it was founded in 2001.
Philadelphian Keith Carney is a member of the Keystone State Skinheads, which he joined soon after it was founded in 2001.Read moreRACHEL PLAYE / Staff reporter

Unlike other members of the Keystone State Skinheads, Keith Carney's face isn't blurred in online photographs and his name isn't concealed to hide his identity.

He is, in many cases, the face of the KSS - this man of just 26 who is living and practicing his "white nationalist" philosophy in Northeast Philadelphia.

"White nationalist" instead of "white supremacist," he said, because the KSS is attempting to move from a social club - the Keystone State Skinheads - to a "militant political organization" - Keystone United.

The name change suggests the kinder, gentler image that some white-supremacist organizations are chasing in an attempt to connect to mainstream culture.

"We don't see ourselves as superior," Carney said, in a recent interview, "and we don't promote violence. You can't intimidate people into thinking the way you do."

Despite Carney's talk of nonviolence, he has a lengthy criminal record that includes a 2004 conviction for ethnic intimidation and simple assault in Lackawanna County, for which he was sentenced to one to three years in prison.

Among Carney's many cases that have moved through the court system is the May 2007 Philadelphia beating of a man who himself was a KSS affiliate, the 2003 assault of a black man in Scranton and the posting of white-supremacy stickers on Philadelphia war memorials.

Despite hasty actions in his past, today Carney is a man of carefully chosen words. In conversation, he never invokes racial epithets, and even goes so far as to call the tactics of other white-supremacy organizations, like the Ku Klux Klan, "goofy."

But his mild language masks a disturbing belief among KSS members that all of America's woes are a result of "the failed multicultural experiment we live in."

"The socialist agenda, unrestricted capitalism and Zionist policies in the Middle East have increased crime and poverty," Carney said. "The accomplishments of our ancestors [white people] are being minimized by Marxist/socialist groups, the biased media and schools."

Carney, who joined the KSS shortly after it was founded in 2001 , said that he came to his beliefs not through his parents but through his experience as a white man in Philadelphia.

"People get this back-woods, ignorant stereotype, but that's not who we are," he said. "I'm from Philly and I've dealt with this [multiculturalism] firsthand. I see the effect it has on both sides of the fence and it's not good."

While Carney didn't say what firsthand experiences led him to the KSS, he repeatedly espoused the idea that the KSS is just "speaking about what people are afraid to talk about outside of their own homes."

Carney said that he believes that people naturally "segregate" themselves into groups, and that while certain subsectors of the white population have a right to socialize, such as the Irish or Italians, they cannot organize as "European-Americans" as a whole.

"It's racist to acknowledge there even is a white community," he said. "There's nothing wrong with a black community, a Hispanic community or Chinatown.

"We just want fair and equal treatment."

So, in an ironic twist, this white- supremacy group that discriminates against others believes that in some cases, it and its members are themselves victims of discrimination.

"We don't want to take the victim's stance, but we are put under a microscope compared to other groups," Carney said. "Black groups can scream obscenities on Market Street, but we can't gather peacefully?

"It's perfectly acceptable to bash white people," he said. "The race card has gone pretty far, and white people need to stand up and say that they're not going to accept these things."

Carney, who believes that a "race war" has been going on in this country for decades, doesn't see it ending anytime soon.

"We're definitely not going away," he said. "And, obviously, with the atmosphere in the country, we're not going to slow down."*