Activist Group Calls On Cobb School Board To Condemn Antisemitism

COBB COUNTY, GA — Last week, swastiskas and antisemitic messages were found in two different Cobb County high schools on two separate days. The Cobb County School District Board of Education has yet to release a statement directly acknowledging the incidents, and now a petition calling on the board to condemn the actions has more than 1,800 signatures.

The first incident occurred two weeks ago, when antisemitic messages like the words "Hail Hitler" and a pair of swastikas were found written in pen on the walls of a boys' bathroom at Pope High School — a week before the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur.

Then last week, swastikas and "Heil Hitler" were also found scrawled behind stall doors in two Lassiter High School bathrooms. School officials said both incidents appear to be linked to a social media trend on TikTok encouraging teenagers to vandalize their schools with hate speech.

"I am both angered and saddened by the appearance of symbols and words of hatred in our school and community," Lassiter Principal Chris Richie said in a letter last week.

Jewish leaders were underwhelmed by the district's response to the Pope incident, which initially called it "hateful graffiti" but did not specifically mention antisemitism.

Grassroots Atlanta group Atlanta Initiative Against Antisemitism (AIAAS) started a petition Friday on Change.org, calling on the school board "to recognize and condemn all forms of antisemitism that occur on campus and to allow school principals the authority to condemn these acts and offer programming to proactively educate the student body and community about antisemitism and to prevent further occurrences," according to the petition.

In just three days, more than 1,800 people have signed the petition, and it also asks Cobb County parents to show up at the school board's meeting Thursday and sign up to speak during the public comment period.

"We need as many signatures as possible by midnight on Wednesday and for people, in particular Cobb County parents, to show up at the meeting and make public comment," the petition reads.

Meanwhile, state Rep. Mike Wilensky, D-Dunwoody, and Georgia House Democratic Caucus leadership — state Reps. James Beverly, Billy Mitchell, David Wilkerson, Debra Bazemore, Erica Thomas, Park Cannon and Mary Robichaux — issued statements Monday addressing the two antisemitic graffiti incidents.

“The Georgia Democratic House Caucus leadership and I strongly condemn the anti-Semitic incidents that have occurred recently in Cobb County schools. We know that the Cobb County community does not share the hatred displayed by these horrific acts.

“We stand in solidarity with the Jewish community. Acts of hate, including anti-Semitic acts, will not be tolerated in our great state. These hateful incidents must be responded to with education and made to be teachable moments. No child should go to school in fear due to the hatred and ignorance of others around them,” Wilensky said in the statement.

The Cobb school board was supposed to meet last week, but the district pushed it back to this Thursday in light of the Pope High School incident and in recognition of Yom Kippur. The decision was made before the antisemitic messages were found at Lassiter.

The special called board meeting starts at 2:30 p.m. Thursday and can be viewed online here. The meeting will start with a closed door executive session "to consider a student discipline appeal."

Related:

• Swastikas Found Inside Pope High School Bathroom
• Swastikas, 'Heil Hitler' Found In Lassiter High School Bathrooms
  
• Cobb County School Board Delays Meeting For Yom Kippur
• Sen. Ossoff Condemns Antisemitic Graffiti In Yom Kippur Address