#a gross appropriation of AAVE about police brutality

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Back in August, someone on Harry Styles’ “Harry’s House” merch design team worked a dogwhistle into the design of his new hats. The pop star’s merch line re-issued and redesigned the hats near immediately, indicating that this was not intentional on the part of the Star, his brand, or his official merchandise line.

In my experience, the inclusion of dogwhistles on clothes, in usernames, in account profiles, and even CPAC stages and NYTimes crossword puzzles, is often and usually far from accidental. While this was most likely a mistake on the part of the Star’s official merch brand, there was still someone on that design team who worked an “HH” symbol— for Styles' new album, Harry's House (who abbreviates an album like that is beyond me)— into the design of a line of hats, and the rest of the teams or team members working for his brand lacked the awareness and diversity to catch this on time. It’s clear there was not a single Jewish person in that room or on that team or any subsequent teams for design, merchandising, production, and sale. The way one combats unintentionally putting these symbols into designs and then sending them out to the public is to have a more diverse team with Jewish teammates. I am hoping Styles’ brand learns from this and hires more Jewish designers.

Now, a part of me wants to assume it was a mistake all-around, down to the last individual, but my background knows better than to assume the best, especially given how well-known the “HH” (or 88) dogwhistle is. I’ve also been told that the design’s style is even reminiscent of how Nazi supporters wore the slogan on uniforms.

“HH was used in WWII to mean ‘heil Hitler,’ and variations of it are still used today among white supremacists around the world. The most common variation is the numerical code 88 since H is the eighth letter of the alphabet.”

The thing about dogwhistles is that they’re supposed to go unseen by the general public. The average passerby isn’t going to think anything of what the person they passed is wearing, allowing white supremacists to discreetly signal to each other in public to avoid public scrutiny for their values and to identify and seek out community which supports their worldview.

In fact, they’re banking on you assuming it’s a big nothing burger. They’re hoping people go, “Well, that looks unintentional and the symbol has no meaning to me. And also [insert other group that uses symbol harmlessly] uses it, so I don’t see the big deal. I think you’re making a mountain out of a mole hill.” They want people to double down on- say- Jewish fans being “chronically online” and “whining about nothing,” as many of Styles’ fans have. Nothing works more in their favor than people digging their heels in the mud and insisting on their right to wear the hat and the Star’s right to issue it. (“Look at these cringe ‘woke warriors’ overreacting to your favorite Pop Star. Doesn’t it make you angry? Doesn’t it make you… reactionary?”)

The Star reissuing the hat with a new design is an admission by his brand that the symbol has hateful power and is recognized as so. I’m glad they redesigned it rather than dig their heels in and try to sweep this under the rug. The more people who admit this and who recognize these symbols for what they are, the less effective they are. You combat the power of these symbols by exposing them and educating others.

Combat hate. Learn to see dogwhistles: