Another sign of hate, this one scrawled in the public school park at 700 Cortelyou Road in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn sometime this weekend. Two swastikas were found at JHS 062, also known as Ditmas Junior High School, serving grades 6, 7 and 8.
This incident is under investigation by the New York Police Department’s Hate Crimes Task Force.
But before you think this is the only hate crime involving anti-Semitism and schools, think again.
Since the start of September, there’s been a string of incidents across the United States involving teenage use of Hitler’s hate symbols.
Multiple swastikas were found in a Westport, Connecticut high school this past Thursday night, according to NBC New York, the Westport News and other sources. The swastikas were found at various sites throughout Staples High School, and an email sent to parents also noted that several Stars of David were found as well, next to an epithet.
Interim Westport Schools superintendent David Abbey told the parents an extra night crew was called to remove the “odious symbols and expressions of hate” by Friday morning.
One week earlier, swastikas were found at multiple sites and in multiple buildings throughout Burlingame High School in the San Francisco Bay Area. Along with the swastikas, “anarchist symbols and racial slurs” were scrawled on September 5 at the sites. School principal Paul Belzer sent an email to the parents describing his “outrage,” according to the Jewish News of Northern California. The Anti-Defamation League Central Pacific Region said it is working with law enforcement and the school to deal with the issue.
One day prior, on September 4, a swastika was found scratched into a bathroom stall at Needham High School in Boston, on the very first day of the new school year. Administrators concluded after reviewing security camera footage that the vandalism likely occurred over the summer, according to the Boston Globe, adding that it would be difficult to trace.
The graffiti was documented by administration and “resource officers” and removed, and school principal Aaron Sicotte spoke to the school about the incident, stressing “hate like this – hate of any nature – has no place at Needham High.” Students are also to have “conversations” in their homerooms about “the impact of hateful actions like this” as well, according to a statement from Sicotte.
We’re not even up to Rosh Hashana yet . . .