Anti-Semitic Photo Posted to Long Island High School's Facebook Page: Report

[Behind the Aegis]

Parents and students at a Long Island high school are outraged after an anti-Semitic photo was posted to a private Facebook page for students.

The photo, which depicts a young boy with a drawn-on Hitler mustache and a swastika armband, was posted Friday to the page designated for Great Neck South High School’s freshman class, according to the New York Observer.

The photo’s caption reads, “I’d rather be gassing Jews right now.”

Students say word spread quickly among the freshman class, many of whom are Jewish.

more...

First comment:

Jeff Rusynyk · Seattle, Washington

haaahahahaha.. that's fucking hilarious.

[elleng]

1. 'School officials said the student who posted the picture does not go to Great Neck South,

but would not say what town he is from. The student’s school has been notified and officials say they are trying to determine the appropriate punishment.

Great Neck South officials said they contacted police when they discovered the image, which was removed from the Facebook page on Sunday.

Meanwhile, one student who proudly wore his blue Israel Jersey to school on Monday, said that instead of seeing the student who posted the photo punished, he would rather see the student educated.

“He’s just a kid,” said 16-year-old junior Daniel Daskal. “He got this information probably from his parents or someone else that he knows. He's obviously not taught the right things. He should be educated on what exactly did happen and what it is he is saying."

Administrators at the school said they will continue discussions with students and parents regarding anti-Semitism, racism and social media.

[SwissTony]

28. Young Mr Daskal has a maturity beyond his years. Well said, young sir n/t

[Bonobo]

2. Long Island is where I grew up and experienced anti-semitism daily.

My grandparents lived in Great Neck...

[Behind the Aegis]

5. Mine were somewhere near there.

They dealt with it on an almost daily basis too. My dad dealt with it most of his life too, but in various locales. Apparently, though, anti-Semitism just isn't important enough for some.

[KittyWampus]

30. There is a bit of a backlash involved in areas like Great Neck>>>>

I live on eastern Long Island and went to school in Nassau County. Recently someone who has family around Great Neck area gave me an eye opener of what's going on in the area (she and her family are Jewish):

Some areas are being heavily bought up by orthodox Jews. Can't remember the term for what it's called when a Jewish community encloses itself inside an area… but this has happened and the orthodox Jewish families have their own private schools. So support for public schools which formerly were top notch is slipping. People who are not orthodox Jews are made to feel unwelcome.

There is resentment. And orthodox communities can be very unwelcoming to outsiders. Outsiders including Jews who aren't orthodox.

A friend (Jewish) whose mother just died in Brooklyn won't keep the house cause it's been swallowed by an orthodox Jewish community and she wouldn't feel comfortable. You get stares walking down the street after hours, alone or wearing shorts. Stores aren't open on Saturdays etc.

So it seems that there is a surge in orthodox Jewish communities on Long Island including the metro area and it's changing formerly more open/integrated communities into closed off areas.

I want to make it clear that these are more considered Ultra-Orthodox. It'd be like a community of Far Right Christian fanatics doing the homeschooling quiverful crap moved in all around you and took over your town. It doesn't excuse the bigotry and ignorant hate speech. But it does point to moving demographics and a radicalization amongst populations in several directions.

[ND-Dem]

38. Interesting. Is it that more formerly non-orthodox Jews are becoming orthodox, or is it people

immigrating from orthodox areas (of the US or the world)?

[elleng]

13. None in Rockville Centre that I was aware of

60+ % of the public school students were Jewish.

[Bonobo]

16. LI is very ethnically divided.

My area had few Jewish people. Mostly Italian.

[Behind the Aegis]

18. Ain't it interesting how articles of anti-Semitism are treated?

"I didn't see it." "Just ignore it." "What's the big deal?"

Curious. Well, not really.

[Bonobo]

19. Sounds more like I was being called a liar.

But I have been here long enough to know most of the "personalities".

[Behind the Aegis]

22. Yeah, I thought that too.

Just like posting the rest of the article, "no big!" It is as it was, and so shall it be.

[JustAnotherGen]

26. You aren't a liar

And it's simple phrases like "shyster" and I got "jewed" that people use when you aren't Jewish and expect you to just "get" that are indicators as to how deeply ingrained the the thought process is.

I'm not a person of the lie - and I'm not going to water dead flowers and tell anyone they smell pretty.

[busterbrown]

23. Try Port Washington..

Parents were one of the first jewish families in the town. By the time I was in my teens in the late 60’s the town reeked of anti-semitism..

[applegrove]

3. Vibes to those poor kids and their families

[PersonNumber503602]

4. Dumb kid trolling internet with offensive pictures hardly seems like news.

I don't mean in the sense to criticize you for making this post here, but rather that it's a news story at all. This trolling behavior happens all the time online, and it's usually handled by whoever administers or the place it happened. It would be weird if every offensive things posts on the internet became news. I suppose this is only making news because it happened on a school facebook page, but it's not as if someone from the school posted it from the school's account.

[Man from Pickens]

6. the news is the reaction

Kid knew he would get a rise out of people and instead of being wise enough to simply laugh it off, they got themselves all atwitter over it.

Really stupid of the schools to get involved, they could open themselves up to a 1st Amendment lawsuit. A public school going to punish someone over an act of expression, however offensive, not on school property? They may as well wire next year's budget to his lawyer and cut out the steps in between.

[Behind the Aegis]

7. Why should anyone "laugh off" bigotry?

Should AA and others "laughed off" the assholes of SAE singing on the bus? Or is it just "this" type of bigotry that is 'funny?'

[Man from Pickens]

9. Because it's the smart thing to do

Even as a child I knew that if someone was acting out in order to get attention, the surest way to get more of the same behavior was to give them the attention they were craving.

If the picture had simply been deleted by the group moderator, perhaps with a short note about page vandalism to indicate the reason, then stopped there - the attention seeking behavior would not be magnificently rewarded as it is now being with having the attention of a whole school plus a news article. As it stands, this kid hit the attention-seekers' jackpot.

We saw the occasional spray paint swastika in my hometown. We removed the paint, and that was the end of that. It was, as in this case, just attention seeking kids seeing who they could stir up. When they found nobody got too up in arms about it, the graffiti stopped.

[Behind the Aegis]

10. Yes, because when you ignore it goes away.

If one does not address the hate, it festers.

Swastikas, Slurs Scrawled at John Jay College

Swastikas and anti-Semitic slurs were discovered drawn on the campus of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan.

The hate messages discovered last week also included racist and homophobic messages, WCBS-TV in New York reported.

The college’s vice president, Lynette Cook-Francis, met with representatives of the groups that were targeted in the hate messages, according to a letter written to the campus community by John Jay’s president, Jeremy Travis, WCBS reported.

“We should all be concerned and offended by these incidents,” Travis wrote. “We pride ourselves as being a community that celebrates diversity and values differences. We aspire to treat one another with respect and dignity.”

College officials also reportedly met with the New York Police Department’s Hate Crimes Unit.


Read more: http://forward.com/articles/216702/swastikas-slurs-scrawled-at-john-jay-college/#ixzz3UctBSJRa

Washing it away with water doesn't wash away the problem.

[Man from Pickens]

14. on the contrary

By reacting as if it is so serious, you give those symbols power they have not earned and do not deserve.

The proper way to address it is to treat it as simple vandalism, juvenile and lame. Get worked up about it and you've taken the bait that was set specifically for the purpose of getting you worked up about it.

[Behind the Aegis]

17. It is serious.

It is attitudes like that which lead to greater problems which is why they must be addressed. Dismissing it as you have chosen to do does nothing in stopping the issue.

[Man from Pickens]

20. I'm telling you how to stop the issue

You stop it by refusing to invest it with the power to gain a lot of attention. By giving this story so much attention, a dozen other attention seeking kids are going to try the same thing. It's only the power it has to make people react that makes it attractive to them.

Meanwhile, if it had simply been deleted that would be the end of that and everybody except the attention seeker would be better off for it.

If your concern is another Holocaust, then it is important to pay attention to the socioeconomic conditions that led the Nazis to power - things like overwhelming debt, and widespread political corruption. Facebook trolls (or graffiti sprayers) don't even begin to rise to the level of significance. Why do them the favor?

[Behind the Aegis]

21. Ignoring it does not work.

A flood doesn't start with a deluge. Pretending bigoted jokes, and acts like this are just "attention-seeking" is to ignore the greater problem. This kid didn't just get this idea out of the ether. And yes, facebook trolls and graffiti sprayers are a problem, because they demonstrate a willingness to accept a greater hate, just as those willing to "overlook" them. Why must a Jew speaking out against anti-Semitism be a fear of another Holocaust? That strawman is of your own making. Just because an African-American person is concerned about a racist act doesn't mean s/he is afraid of the reinstitution of slavery.

[Man from Pickens]

24. It worked in my old hometown

just sayin'. Give it a shot just once and you'll see that this strategy is very effective.

[Behind the Aegis]

25. Yes, it has worked so well elsewhere too.

If you choose to ignore it, go for it. I choose to address it.

[stevenleser]

29. We Jews have tried that before. All through the rise of the Nazi party in Germany

We "ignored it".

Never again.

[JustAnotherGen]

27. Funny how these hateful people

Always find other "others" to hate - isn't it? This kid could have just as easily posted a "I'd rather be hanging black people" on this FB page and DU would have an epic 400 post thread. Wrong is wrong.

[Bonobo]

11. Maybe if you had had grandparents traumatized by the Holocaust like mine...

Maybe if your sweet Grandma and Grandpa had their souls and beliefs and faith ripped apart as they lost their brothers, sisters and cousins...

Maybe if you had a mother who grew up hiding under the bed afraid of Nazis...

Maybe if you yourself were beaten up and picked on daily, had teachers who hurled anti-semitic epithets...

Maybe then you wouldn't be so confident about how it should just be rubbed off with paint thinner and brushed off.

[Man from Pickens]

12. I did

not just grandparents and not just trauma, either.

Entire Hungarian branch of my family was wiped out.

I'd wager your sweet Grandma and Grandpa would be more likely to react as I advise than you are reacting now.

It wasn't symbols that made the Holocaust happen. It was irrational passions sweeping an entire population - a Facebook troll doesn't even begin to be significant in that kind of equation.

[Bonobo]

15. Hungarian branch here as well.

Bratislava area. All gone.

[H2O Man]

33. Absolutely.

There is nothing funny about this. Nothing to "laugh off."

Do teenagers do stupid things? Of course: it's their job.

But this isn't simply a "stupid" thing. It is a hateful thing. And it is a type of hate that does serious damage to the fabric of society in general, and threatens a group of people specifically.

Thank you for posting this on DU:GD. It is definitely "news," and something we need to be aware of -- even if some people think, for example, that the Southern Poverty Law Center has no sense of humor, and just doesn't get all the hilarious jokes that hateful people tell.

[Ken Burch]

34. No one should laugh off bigotry.

The kid should be put into therapy right now...and his home life should be investigated as well. Something is severely off if someone that young(not that it's "no biggie" at any age) sees comments like that as humor.

[PersonNumber503602]

8. I don't have much issues with the kid's school/parents being notified

There may be an issue with what are the boundaries for schools in punishing acts that take place outside of school during off hours. But in this case, I don't see any issues with the school contacting kid's school, and the kid's school notifying the parents. Then hopefully the parents would do something about it. That sort of community relationship seems like a good thing to me.

It's the fact that a facebook troll post made the news that gets me.

[KittyWampus]

31. Hate speech is not protected on a school website. A school is REQUIRED to provide a safe environment

for its students. Having someone post about gassing Jews is clearly threatening.

Free Speech doesn't mean you can say whatever you want, whenever and wherever you want without repercussions.

And not using this opportunity to EDUCATE youngsters who might be expressing real prejudice or trolling for reactions would be a waste of an opportunity.

Your posts in this thread indicate you don't value reaching out to others and giving them a chance to open their minds and learn empathy.

[Man from Pickens]

36. it's not a school website

it's Facebook

Also, obvious troll posts from children are not a threat to any level-headed person. It's a stupid kid trick - don't empower it by treating it as more than that.

[cali]

37. right. because teenagers are never ever violent and never make threats they don't act on

no, I don't think this posed on serious threat, but your post is absurd. and it's hate speech, pure and simple. You have a lovely tolerance for hate. Most of us don't.

[Ken Burch]

32. Good God.

How could a kid get that hateful THAT early in life?

[Bluenorthwest]

35. It takes a village.

nt