SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA (VINnews) — Eight students at Branham High School in San Jose formed a human swastika while lying on the school’s football field and posted the image to Instagram alongside a 1939 antisemitic quote from Adolf Hitler Yimakh shemo, school officials and Jewish community leaders confirmed.
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The photo, which was posted Wednesday and removed by Friday morning, quickly went viral after screenshots spread on platforms including Nextdoor and Reddit.
Branham Principal Beth Silbergeld, who is Jewish, called the act “horrifying” in statements to parents and the media.
“The incident is being investigated in accordance with district procedures, and appropriate follow-up will occur,” Silbergeld wrote in a letter to families. “We want to be clear: Branham stands firmly against all forms of hate, discrimination, and intolerance. Acts that target, demean, or threaten others have no place on our campus.”
Silbergeld told the Los Angeles Times she is personally horrified but professionally confident the school community can “emerge stronger and more united.”
The Campbell Union High School District is working with San Jose police, the Anti-Defamation League, and the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Bay Area to investigate and address the incident.
Jewish students at Branham expressed fear and distress in the wake of the photo.
“I was really scared; my identity feels threatened right now,” one Jewish senior told the Los Angeles Times on condition of anonymity. “There are people at my school who think they can get away with this, and for me that was just really, really scary to know.”
Somebody puts those momzarim up to doing such acts, as they don’t operate in a vacuum. The ADL is useless, as it only reports such incidents. The follow-up has to come from law enforcement.
I too was once a teenager who (& friends or even friend’s parents) said & heard terrible things about other groups but like almost all kids we outgrew it. Sometimes going after them harshly is not always the best option.
Hatred has gotten too common place in USA.
Very sad to see USA go down hill.
The hate symbol should be called by its original correct name Hakenkreuz (Hooked Cross) and such antisemitism must be punished.
Waddya expect from a leftists Nazi State??