Yes, Heavy Metal Upholds White Supremacy, You Just Refuse To Acknowledge Yow Own Bigotry.

Now first of all i want to just say—I LOVE METAL. it has saved my life and i have met some of the best people i will ever meet through metal, but that does not mean that i can’t acknowledge the ridiculous amounts of racism seen within metal. 

ok let’s start. Recently the youtuber and guitarist, andrew lee uploaded his video discussing white superemacy in metal, which led to him facing ridiculous amounts of scrutiny and backlash from the online metal and grindcore communities. he made amazing points as to how the vast majority of metal heads are falling into line to the racist social cycles that have existed within the metal community forever- and have never been touched upon. 

Now you’re probably asking “what are these cycles??” eurocentrism, rejection of colored artists, the defense of racists disguised as “seperating art from the artist”, and how the scene does not accept colored people. 

1. The eurocentric identity metal has upheld.

So i’m gonna start this out by saying that i do not personally beleive that this is the fault of newer metal heads as much it is the older ones for not working to make african or nonwhite metal more accessible comparative to the metal from europe or america. the point though his thst nonwhite metal is nowhere near as accessible or popular as the metal made by white people- and even bringing it up can be seen with scrutiny from some people. metal made by non european bands is always viewed with a different lens as white metal, it’s viewed as lesser then, or not taken seriously, and this is entirely to blame because of the racists that have ruled the scene for so long.

2. the constant rejection or underminding of colored artists.

this i touched on heavily in the last point, but colored musicians are constantly viewed as lesser than, or used as a fucking “gotcha” when discussing the racism in metal, instead of being seen for the art they make. the amount of this i have personally seen is astounding. none of the people using colored musicians to prove a point actually will listen to them, because they do not care about what they make, they are only viewed as being “different” just for being a different color and it so fucking disgusting but widespread throughout the community.

3. “separate art from the artist” and how it creates a space of normalized bigotry.

separating art from the artist can be an amazing thing when it applies to all music, but it is not. people will often use this excuse for artists like burzum or slayer, but still go on to buy their merch and try to support them as much as possible, this creates a space where racism is not only accepted but BRED. being racist gets you MORE streams then making good music in metal. and the argument of seperating art from the artist will never apply to colored people, they will always be sidestepped as musicians and seen only for the horrible things they’ve done. (i’m not saying they shouldn’t but it should apply to white and non white people)

4. The scene pushed away colored fans and artists.

this i cannot personally speak upon because i am white and haven’t faced any bigotry in metal besides homophobia but that’s more a conversation for a different day. Andrew lee and brutus bathory both gave amazing rundowns of this, i would HIGHLY recommend you go and watch their videos and support their channels.

Overall heavy metal upholds white supremacy and eurocentric beliefs and if you cannot see this you are at the top of the system.