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  • 2018-11-12 (xsd:date)
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  • Was a Group of High Schoolers Photographed Performing a Nazi Salute? (en)
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  • Both police and school officials in Wisconsin launched an investigation into a photograph of local high school students flashing a Nazi salute after a journalist posted the picture online. On 11 November 2018 Reporter Jules Suzdaltsev posted the picture of a group of boys, reportedly comprising Baraboo High School's entire male graduating class of 2019, with several of them visibly flashing the extended-arm Sieg Heil gesture. His tweet was shared more than 14,000 times within 24 hours: I was contacted by a former student who shared with me a post she made about the photo, which was posted by a student run page with the caption, 'We even got the black kid to throw it up #BarabooProud,' Suzdaltsev told us via email a day after posting the photograph. I was not familiar with the school, but the photo was shocking and I assumed it would be shocking to others as well. Suzdaltsev followed up by posting screenshots of messages he received from other Baraboo students accusing the boys seen in the photograph of posting racist and misogynist harassment: Other students accused the school of ignoring requests for help, and one said to Suzdaltsev that when they informed an official that one of the boys in the photograph yelled white power in the hallway, they were told to look up videos of Black Lives Matter protesters being violent to police and that [they] should grow a tougher skin. Another student said that the gesture was suggested to the boys by the photographer. A student seen in the picture told the same thing to television news outlets: Suzdaltsev attributed the picture to a photography company, Wheel Memories, who removed a June 2018 post containing the image and replaced it with a message decrying the criticism that was mounting online: Wheel Memories did not respond to a request for comment prior to publication. The story was picked up by both local and national news outlets, and the Auschwitz Memorial Museum in Poland also criticized the photograph on Twitter, saying: Both the Baraboo School District and its head administrator, Lori Mueller, released an identical statement: The school district also sent a letter to parents: It's very disappointing that this photo has been around for a while, and the school only reacted when it was published publicly, Suzdaltsev told us. He also asserted on Twitter that after he posted the photograph, personal information of his was posted on the same platform without his consent, a practice commonly known as doxxing, but that Twitter had failed to respond to his requests for help. A Twitter spokesperson would not comment. Suzdaltsev later said that Twitter support staff reached out personally to rectify the issue. The Baraboo School District did not respond to a request for comment. (en)
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