San Jose police investigating hate crime after Branham High School students form 'human swastika'
A 'human swastika' is the center of an investigation involving San Jose high school students.
As first reported by The Jewish News of Northern California , the image shows eight students lying in the shape of a swastika on Branham High School's football field.
J. also reports the students posted the image to Instagram with a Hitler quote.
San Jose police said it is investigating the incident that occurred last Wednesday.
ABC7 News spoke to Tamar Maysel, a senior at Branham.
"I'm still just processing it - I'm like these people go to our school, and they're basically just like putting this like hateful ideology and language out there shamelessly," Maysel said.
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The image has since circulated locally and nationally. Maysel is glad it's getting attention and feels school staff are taking it seriously.
"I ended up attending a meeting with teachers after, and I expressed how this made me feel unsafe and like threatened, and their support and feelings about it were just so generous," Maysel said.
On Tuesday, the Superintendent of the Campbell Union High School District released a message to the community. It said in part:
"The swastika is an unmistakable symbol of genocide, hatred, and antisemitism...I want to be very clear: the district considers this an instance of hate violence... The district will respond firmly, thoughtfully, and within the full scope allowed by the Board Police and California law."
"One thing that I really like is that the teachers are focusing on is not just education about why it's wrong, but also they're focusing on like the impact more than the intent," Maysel said.
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Tyler Gregory is the CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council.
"There's no political disguise here; this was an open support for Hitler and had a Hitler quote attached to the image, and so what we're seeing is unadulterated, unafraid antisemitism," Gregory said.
The Jewish Community Relations Council is offering help to the district and students during this time.
"So this is a longitudinal challenge that the district now has to solve; this is not something that should be seen as a one-off incident and so that's why it's really important we stay in touch with the school offering resources and support," Gregory said.
The district said around 200 students participated in a walkout on Wednesday in support of Jewish students.
