Are you comfortable with this symbol in our schools?

Should the lessons from the hatred it represents be taught? Yes so we can all get better. Should we accept when our children create these symbols in our schools? No.

As a member of the Park City community, I am appalled that an individual put hateful speech on a desk at Park City High School. It is horrible. It’s not who we want to be. However, I also understand that children are stupid. I was. You were. We all make mistakes and we learn from our stupidity. Hopefully.

So, I hope that whoever did this realizes that all of us… every race…every religion…every ethnicity… every color … every human… we’re all in this together. We all live and then we all die. How we treat the time in-between is what matters. Crap like what happened at the high school, at its minimum, divides us. At its worst It is hurtful and brings us all down. Either way, it does no good.

Later that day, I watched the Park City School Board meeting where teacher Josh Goldstein arose, during a public comment session, to speak about the anti-semitic language found under a desk in his class. He then spoke about 60 emails he received where people told him about other instances of racism and bigotry people in our community had faced.

It appears it was not one instance of a swastika under a desk …. but many cases.

I then thought back to my childrens’ experience at Jeremy Ranch elementary. They talk about how the N-word was used by their classmates. I’ll go a step further because I think we are at a point where using terms like “N-Word” sugar-coats it and doesn’t bring the significance it should. So, let’s get real. My kids talk about how the word NIGGER is used at Jermery Ranch Elementary School. Yes, in 2022 the term NIGGER is still found in Park City on our playgrounds. I’m glad the ED foundation raises millions but this seems like a bigger issue, at least to me.

Anyhow, back to the Nazi-related story in Park City schools. We had a swastika drawn on a desk and the word NIGGER written as well.