The rollout of a new logo for an Atlanta area elementary school has been paused after parents noted similarities to a Nazi symbol. The claims have been denied by the school district. It said the design was based on a U.S. Army colonel’s eagle wings.
What the school district has to say about the symbol?
The Cobb County School District said that it has halted the distribution of the new logo for East Side Elementary School in Marietta. The action was taken after it drew condemnation on social media. The logo depicts an eagle, the school’s mascot, over the school’s initials ES.
The Nazi eagle was developed in the 1920s. Being that, it later became a symbol for white supremacists and it depicts an eagle holding a swastika in its talons. Georgia’s second-largest school district announced plans to delay the new logo while “immediately reviewing needed changes.”
“We understand and strongly agree that similarities to Nazi symbolism are unacceptable, although this design was based on the U.S. Army colonel’s eagle wings, stakeholder input has been and continues to be important to our schools,” the statement said.
A message to parents on Monday notified them of the new logo. The message stated that it was chosen to “represent the eagle soaring into excellence and to honor the history of our great school.” Moreover, the district has been working with all schools to create logos, the message added. However, The design drew a swift backlash on social media.
Reactions to the new logo
“I don’t want to see my kids wearing that on their shirt,” Mike Albuquerque, the father of two students who will attend the school next year, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“Really it’s a big oversight of the county and everyone involved in the process who reviewed that, to not call out the fact that this looks like Nazi iconography. Or maybe, who knows, somebody did call it out and it wasn’t heard.”
“I thought, ‘That looks off. That makes me uncomfortable,’ and I came back to it a few times and I felt more and more uncomfortable and sick each time,” Flaks said, noting the war eagle was used by the Nazis in World World II. Moreover, it is currently used by other neo-Fascist and neo-Nazi sympathizer groups. Flaks said she contacted the school and got an apology from the principal.
She said it was hurtful on many levels. She added, “my children are great-grandchildren of someone who fled the Nazi regime in Germany and survived the Holocaust.” Stacy Efrat said that as a parent and a member of the Jewish community, she was outraged.
“I want to see the logo not only taken away I want a direct apology to our community. Not just the Jewish community but the entire community,” Efrat said.
The logo controversy is only the latest related to antisemitism in Cobb schools. In the last month, a group began posting hot pink billboards around metro Atlanta challenging people to fight antisemitism.
