A swastika Image by Wikimedia Commons

By Aiden Pink December 16, 2019

A man who lives across the street from a Des Moines, Iowa elementary school is defending his decision to display artwork with Confederate and Nazi imagery, the Associated Press reported Monday.

William Stark had been harshly criticized by local parents and the school district for showcasing the painted wooden pallets stacked on his property. In an interview with Fox 32 Chicago, Stark denied that the symbols were hateful.

“They don’t know their history, evidently,” Stark said, referring to people upset by his display. “That’s the only reason I can think of that they can think anything bad about it—they don’t know their history.”

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

More than 60% of students at Morris Elementary School, across the street from Stark’s house, are children of color, a school district spokesman said. The district added that Stark had a right to display the materials on his lawn but was banned from school property due to “numerous conflicts” between him, others who live in his home and the district.

Stark, who reportedly makes money by painting the pallets and selling them, told the Associated Press that he had painted the swastika imagery, which he said matched the artwork on Nazi air force planes, because a buyer asked him to create it and display it. He claimed that his creation was in “better taste” than merely painting the Nazi regime’s flag, which is just the swastika on a white and red background.

When asked what he would say to a Holocaust survivor who encountered his work, Stark replied: “I’m sorry for their luck, but I don’t mean nothing by it. I don’t judge you. Only person that’s supposed to judge me is the Lord, you know what I mean? I don’t judge nobody else, don’t judge me.”

Vandals graffitied truck and trailer with the words “Nazi scum” and blacked out his artwork on Wednesday.

Aiden Pink is the deputy news editor of the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @aidenpink

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.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount