One-Inch Swastika Discovered At Suburban Chicago High School

Swastika graffiti was discovered and quickly removed from the lobby of Oak Park and River Forest High School in suburban Chicago, according to a statement released by the school on Monday. Image by Wikimedia Commons
A small sketch of a swastika was discovered on a window ledge in the lobby of a suburban Chicago high school and later removed, according to a Monday letter sent by the school’s superintendent.
A parent noticed the drawing at Oak Park and River Forest High School in Oak Park, Illinois and alerted a security staff member, who reported it to the buildings and grounds staff, according to a follow-up statement issued by the school on Tuesday.
Staff removed the “deeply offensive symbol of oppression and genocide,” school superintendent Dr. Joylynn Pruitt-Adams wrote in the Monday letter.
Even though there was a security camera nearby, the lobby is often crowded and the swastika was too small — roughly one inch — to discern when it was drawn, according to the Tuesday statement.
“Let us be clear: Hate has no place at Oak Park and River Forest High School,” Pruitt-Adams wrote in the letter. “We, as a school community, stand for respect and inclusion.”
Contact Erica Snow at [email protected] or on Twitter @ericasnoww.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion My Jewish moms group ousted me because I work for J Street. Is this what communal life has come to?
- 2
Opinion Trump’s Israel tariffs are a BDS dream come true — can Netanyahu make him rethink them?
- 3
Opinion I co-wrote Biden’s antisemitism strategy. Trump is making the threat worse
- 4
Film & TV How Marlene Dietrich saved me — or maybe my twin sister — and helped inspire me to become a lifelong activist
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Colombia appoints allegedly fake anti-Zionist rabbi as director of religious affairs
-
Fast Forward GOP Rep. Randy Fine, the newest Jewish congressman, calls Rashida Tlaib a ‘terrorist’
-
Fast Forward Freed hostage Liri Albag responds to backlash over Netanyahu criticism: ‘I fear what we have become’
-
Fast Forward France will move to recognize a Palestinian state this year, Macron says
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.