Tennessee Middle School Yearbook Shows Students Dressed As Nazis
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By Aiden Pink May 3, 2017
A Tennessee school district is investigating how a picture of two students dressed up as Nazis ended up in a school yearbook.
The yearbook at Houston Middle School in Germantown, outside Memphis, showed two students wearing Hitler-type mustaches and hats with swastikas as part of a class called “Facing History and Ourselves” that covers the Holocaust. But the yearbook does not provide any context for the picture, leading to confusion from parents.
“I am horrified that children at HMS were dressed as Nazis and Hitler and doubly horrified it was chosen for the yearbook,” one parent wrote on Facebook.
“We apologize that the yearbook picture may have offended anyone or has caused misunderstanding of our intent,” school principal Liz Diaz wrote in a statement. “As a matter of fact, this class and our annual Days of Diversity event are in place to help teach our students the importance and appreciation of our diverse world. Houston Middle celebrates diversity.”
The designers of the Facing History and Ourselves curriculum discourage teachers from having students role play the Holocaust, local TV station WMC reported.
Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter at @aidenpink.
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