The Bradford, Wellesley High School’s student newspaper/website, reports that the school is investigating the discovery of a thumb-sized image of a swastika etched onto a computer monitor in the language lab. The symbol was found on Sept. 23, according to the article.
Principal Jamie Chisum spoke to students about the issue on Wednesday and shared a memo with parents/guardians on Friday, writing: “I denounced the act, saying it had no place in our community and said that I understood that Rosh Hashanah was a time for reflection on our past year and to think about the hopes we have for the new one. I talked about how the swastika may be most directly associated as an anti-semitic symbol, but that it has come to represent hatred toward any ‘other’. I told them my hope was that we’d be able to look out for each other and call out this type of behavior to each other so we could work towards it not happening here. I encouraged more conversation in advisory and beyond.”
The swastika’s discovery is particularly disturbing for the school in light of the way the term began: With Principal Jamie Chisum urging WHS students, faculty and staff to make the the school “an inclusive and welcoming place to everyone” and to take part in “persistent anti-racist work.” That talk stemmed from concerns over an online racial incident involving Wellesley High and other students over the summer.
RELATED: World of Wellesley invites students to discuss the idea of race
Leave a Reply