Online flyers indicate neo-Nazi group holding Boise concert in October
Fifteen years ago in Hailey, Idaho, then-skinhead, white supremacist and neo-Nazi TJ Leyden decided to leave the movement.
“Me and my youngest son were watching a show on Nickelodeon called Gullah Gullah Island and my 3-year-old walked into the living room and walked to the TV set and turned it off and said: Daddy, we don’t watch shows with n*$@#* on them in the house.”
Leyden said he realized then he didn't want his sons to grow up to be like him: a racist thug.
Today, Leyden travels the country lecturing about white supremacy and gang activity. He’s especially familiar with the Hammerskin Nation and its Hammerfest concert allegedly coming to Boise in October.
“I threw one of these actual events,” Leyden said. "It's used primarily for recruitment.”
Leyden called music a powerful recruitment tool and said he believed when people leave Hammerfest listening to songs telling them “the Holocaust was a good thing" and "blacks and Hispanics and anybody who’s not white and racist is a bad person,” they may find themselves more likely to commit a hate crime.
“They’re driving down the street and they see a guy with a big nose and they think: Oh, he’s probably Jewish and they attack him,” Leyden said.
Boise Police admitted to concern about the concert and the group, but said it couldn’t find anything to indicate the show might actually happen: no public permits and no announced location.
That didn’t surprise Leyden. He said that’s how Hammerskin operates.
“Because of the invention of stuff like Twitter,” Leyden said, “they’re not going to put it out until the day before."










This site uses Facebook comments to make it easier for you to contribute. If you see a comment you would like to flag for spam or abuse, click the "x" in the upper right of it. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use.