2nd High School Deals With Students, Nazi Symbols

Another high school in Southern California is dealing with a group of students who apparently thought it would be funny to embrace Nazi symbolism. This time, it involves the water polo team at Pacifica High School in Garden Grove, reports the Daily Beast. The website reviewed video of several members of the team giving the Nazi salute and singing an obscure Nazi marching song. The video was originally uploaded to Instagram by a student; here's a snippet. The school district says it became aware of the video in March and took disciplinary action, though it didn't specify what that entailed. "The school did address this situation with all involved students and families,” says a spokesperson.

The DB talks to a Chapman University professor of extremism studies who notes that this almost certainly wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision to sing the song—because it would have taken research to find the lyrics. “It’s not something you’d expect somebody to accidentally know about," he says, and that raises a different issue. “Are they on websites or web forums or other social media platforms where they’re engaging with others informed on these issues?” (The earlier incident took place in Orange County, where students were photographed saluting over beer pong cups arranged in a swastika. Students there eventually met with the stepsister of Anne Frank.)