Concerning Truth and Triumph Tattoo
Truth and Triumph Tattoo in Dayton, Ohio has a troubling reputation for harboring white supremacists and engaging in discriminatory behavior against their own employees. The owner has a history of using racial slurs and making derogatory statements about minorities. At a company party several years ago, the owner told an African American employee that he was “the only n****r that ever worked for him,” and continued to use several racial slurs throughout the evening. The shop has a track record of employing known white supremacists. The screen grab below shows a Jim Crow era "Colored People Entrance" sign that was on display at the Truth and Triumph shop several years ago.
The next screenshot below shows the Jim Crow era sign in a larger context with a rebel flag clearly visible. This artist no longer works for the company, but his racism was tolerated at Truth and Triumph as clearly shown through these images. This artist now works at the Black Skull Collective tattoo parlor.
Another Truth and Triumph alumni posted this image of a racist antique on his personal page during his tenure with Truth and Triumph. The artist now works at RocArt Tattoo shop.
Even more troubling is this image of an anti-semitic tattoo on one of their artist's pages on the Truth and Triumph website. The subject is one of their former employees named Steve Simpson who is a known white supremacist. The tattoo is the phrase “Arbeit Macht Frei,” which is a Nazi slogan meaning “work will set you free” used by the Nazi SS and displayed on signs at concentration camps including Auschwitz. The artist who tattooed this on Steve Simpson also has hate symbols tattooed on their body. During Simpson's tenure with Truth and Triumph, he displayed an SS helmet at his booth which had a swastika and SS bolts on it. Simpson left the shop several years ago and shortly after stabbed a man in a crime that was called "ethnic intimidation" by authorities. When police searched his shop, they discovered the knife used in the stabbing and the SS helmet.
Nazi slogan tattoo can be found here: http://www.truthandtriumphtattoo.com/joshcook.html
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| Arbeit Macht Frei Nazi Slogan on Steve Simpson |
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| The Slogan Displayed at a Nazi Concentration Camp |
The company’s logo closely resembles SS Bolts, an Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recognized white supremacist hate symbol. The logo depicts SS bolts with vertical blocks to make the lighting bolts appear to be the letter T.
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| The Truth and Triumph Logo |
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| Logo Without the Vertical Blocks (DISCLAIMER - this image is edited to show the likeness between the logo and the SS bolts hate symbol) |
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| Comparison of the Altered Logo and Traditional SS Bolts |
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| The Truth and Triumph Logo |
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| Logo Without the Vertical Blocks (DISCLAIMER - this image is edited to show the likeness between the logo and the SS bolts hate symbol) |
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| Comparison of the Altered Logo and Traditional SS Bolts |
Several sources have confirmed that there were concerns within the company that the logo resembled a hate symbol and the owner brushed off these concerns because the logo was a “powerful symbol.”
According to the ADL, “The SS Bolts are a common white supremacist/neo-Nazi symbol derived from Schutzstaffel (SS) of Nazi Germany. The SS, led by Heinrich Himmler, maintained the police state of Nazi Germany. Its members ranged from agents of the Gestapo to soldiers of the Waffen (armed) SS to guards at concentration and death camps.”
“The SS symbol is derived from the "sowilo" or "sun" rune, a character in the pre-Roman runic alphabet associated with the "s" sound. The Nazis derived many of their symbols from such pre-Roman images. Because the sowilo rune resembles a lightning bolt (with flat ends instead of pointed ends), the SS symbol has come to be associated with a lightning bolt image.”
“Following World War II, the SS bolts symbol was adopted by white supremacists and neo-Nazis worldwide. Most white supremacists use it in its Nazi form, as two bolt-like images with flattened ends. However, sometimes the symbol may have pointed bottom ends or pointed tops and bottoms. These variants of the SS bolts are most frequently associated with prison tattoos.”
Source: https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols/ss-bolts
Historically, the symbol represented anti-semitism and genocide. According to Wikipedia, “The two main constituent groups were the Allgemeine SS (General SS) and Waffen-SS (Armed SS). The Allgemeine SS was responsible for enforcing the racial policy of Nazi Germany and general policing, whereas the Waffen-SS consisted of combat units within Nazi Germany's military. A third component of the SS, the SS-Totenkopfverbände (SS-TV), ran the concentration camps and extermination camps. Additional subdivisions of the SS included the Gestapo and the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) organizations. They were tasked with the detection of actual or potential enemies of the Nazi state, the neutralization of any opposition, policing the German people for their commitment to Nazi ideology, and providing domestic and foreign intelligence. The SS was the organization most responsible for the genocidal killing of an estimated 5.5 to 6 million Jews and millions of other victims during the Holocaust. Members of all of its branches committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during World War II (1939–45). The SS was also involved in commercial enterprises and exploited concentration camp inmates as slave labor.”
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel
The owner used to sell T-shirts with his name emblazoned over a rebel flag.
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| The Owner of Truth and Triumph's Past Merchandise |
The use of hate symbols, racial slurs, and acceptance of neo-nazi/white supremacists embraces bigotry and has no place in our city. It is time to #boycotttruthandtriumph until the company rebrands and issues an apology. The continued use of this logo has caused the proliferation of hate symbols throughout the city.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
- Share this post and use the hashtag #boycotttruthandtriumph to spread the message
- Peacefully protest Truth and Triumph Tattoo
- Dispose of any Truth and Triumph merchandise you may own
- Remove any Truth and Triumph stickers in public spaces
DEMANDS
- Immediate rebranding of the logo. There are a million ways to depict two Ts that do not resemble a hate symbol
- Issue an apology to the community and anyone bullied or harassed at Truth and Triumph
- Destroy all remaining merchandise containing the SS bolt imagery
- Recurring donations to embracerace.org beginning immediately
- Offer free cover ups for anyone who has a hate symbol tattoo and transition to becoming a leader in the industry that embraces egalitarianism and inclusion
- End any discriminatory hiring practices IAW State of Ohio HR-D-14, Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Affirmative Action Plan, and the state Diversity & Inclusion Vision, Promise, and Mission link: https://odh.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/odh/about-us/employment/eeo
WHISTLEBLOWERS
If you have experienced racism, sexism, or harassment while working for Truth and Triumph, please reach out to this page. You will protected to the fullest extent IAW State of Ohio Code 4113.52.
Whistleblowers are encouraged to send their complaints to daytonwhiterose@gmail.com
DISCLAIMER - The use of any hate symbols in this post is purely for educational purposes and is not intended to harm or offend.
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