Portland Activists Claim Dr. Martens Christmas Advertisement is White Supremacist Code

The colors red and green are usually associated with Christmas--but not if you’re looking for signs of racism everywhere.

The Oregonian reports one anti-racist activist in Portland, Sam Sachs, sounded the "Nazi” alarm bell after he noticed a billboard advertising Dr. Martens boots (otherwise known as Doc Martens or simply “Docs”). The billboard, which features a pair of boots with red laces, tells people to “rock the holidays”:

Instead of viewing the red laces as holiday-themed, Sachs claimed the red laces were actually indicative of support for neo-Nazis. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, red or white shoelaces are part of “lace code” for white supremacists and skinheads. The Anti-Defamation League also claims red and white shoelaces can be used by white supremacists.

Randy Blazak, the chair of Oregon’ Coalition Against Hate Crime, told the Oregonian the Oregonian that white supremacists and neo-Nazis “graduate from white laces to red laces once you've spilled somebody's blood.”

Blazak told the Oregonian seeing the advertisement can be “triggering” to Ethopians or other people of color because Portland is apparently known as “Skinhead City.”

CNN reports that Portland, in the 1990s, became known as “Skinhead City” because of skinheads and anti-skinheads fighting in the streets.

This is not the first time Dr. Marten's has been accused of playing up its alleged skinhead association.

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