Author: benjancewicz

Viral video shows Mountain Vista High School student known for wearing Nazi garb being punched in the face by a black student

A previously unreported video of a black Mountain Vista High School student punching a white student known for wearing Nazi garb has gone viral this week even though the incident happened in August, leaving the school system once again addressing a hate incident on campus.

The fight video is just the latest in a string of hate-based incidents happening inside the halls of Colorado schools.

“Incidents are up,” said Jeremy Shaver, associate regional director for the Colorado Anti-Defamation League. “As we’ve seen an increase of incidents in Colorado since 2015, the percentage in schools has also increased.”

Video of the fight at the Highlands Ranch school rocketed around social media this week after a Twitter user from Baltimore posted it to his feed. The Denver Post is not publishing the video because it depicts two juveniles, who since have been charged with crimes.

In the video, the white student, wearing a military green jacket, was doing a T-pose, a popular meme in gaming, but one that “some people say has been used by the KKK to represent a burning cross,” Lt. Lori Bronner, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman, said. The black student confronted him, daring him to continue this pose, Bronner said.

Next, the two students were walking side by side in a courtyard area as dozens of others milled about. Then, the black student abruptly punched the white student in the face. After a few seconds, the white student got up, picked up a landscaping rock and threw it at the other student. He missed.

Police said the student who threw the punch chased down the freshman in the military jacket, kicking him as the student curled up on the ground. At some point in the incident, Bronner said, the white student called the black teen a racial slur. Security arrived soon after and broke up the fight.

Both students were arrested, Bronner said. The white student was charged with harassment, disorderly conduct and criminal attempt assault, while the other student was charged with assault, harassment and disorderly conduct. There were no charges of a hate crime, Bronner said.

The school said the white student was wearing a green jacket but that it did not sport Nazi insignias. Students from Mountain Vista said this student was known for wearing this green jacket complete with Nazi regalia. A review of the juvenile’s Instagram account shows multiples pictures of him wearing Nazi uniforms.

Paula Hans, spokeswoman for the Douglas County School District, said the school “communicated out to parents, and the incident was handled at the time.”

“Principal Michael Weaver told the parents that there was an altercation between two students,” Hans said. “The administration worked with the students and families directly involved as well as the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.”

The school would not say whether either student was suspended or expelled.

This is not the first hate-based incident at Mountain Vista High School — or in Colorado — in recent months.

In late September, racist graffiti was spray-painted on a gym wall at Mountain Vista. African-American football coaches said at the time that they believed it was directed at them.

At the Kent Denver School in Cherry Hills Village in early November, students found a swastika scrawled on bathroom stall.

That same week, students at Eaglecrest High School in Centennial found racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic graffiti in one of their bathrooms.

The Colorado Anti-Defamation League does not break down incidents by school, but overall antisemitic incidents in the state tripled between 2015 and 2017, Shaver said. There were 57 incident in 2017, up from 18 in 2015.

“Incidents in schools tend to be on the lower level, vandalism, swastikas drawn on school property and verbal or written harassment,” Shaver said.

In 2017, anti-Semitic incidents at K-12 schools nationwide increased to 457 from 235 in 2016, a 94 percent bump, according to a national audit by the Anti-Defamation League.

https://www.denver7.com/news/national/a-colorado-student-in-a-nazi-jacket-was-punched-in-the-face-by-a-black-peer-both-have-been-charged

HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. – It’s been three months since a black student in Colorado reportedly punched a white student wearing a Nazi jacket in the face, but the incident has only come to light after a video of the fight went viral this week.

The Denver Post reported Friday a Twitter user from Baltimore posted the video to his feed, which spread like wildfire on the social media website.

The fight, which happened in August, began at lunch break in front of Mountain Vista High School in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, when the white student in the Nazi jacket was doing a T-pose, which is a popular meme among gamers to demonstrate dominance or power, said Lt. Lori Bronner with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.

Historically, some members of the Ku Klux Klan have used the pose to “represent a burning cross,” Bronner told KMGH.

Bronner said the black student saw the white student doing the T-pose and went up to confront him. They exchanged words and the black student spit on the white student, at which point the white student did the same to the black student.

The black student then briefly walked away but returned to confront the white student once again before punching him in the face, causing the student to fall to the ground, according to Bronner.

She said the student wearing the green Nazi jacket then got up, grabbed a rock and threw it at the black student, missing him.

According to Bronner, the student who threw the punch then ran after his peer and kicked him after he fell to the ground. She said the student in the Nazi jacket curled into a protective, fetal position while calling the black teen a racial slur.

Shortly afterward, a third student and staff members separated the two boys.

“We’ve had no other situations like this,” said Bronner, adding this type of disputes are very rare.

Bronner said the black student was charged with assault for punching and kicking the white student, and was also charged with harassment and disorderly conduct.

The white student, Bronner said, was charged with harassment, disorderly conduct and criminal attempted assault for throwing a landscaping rock at the black student.

No one was charged with a hate crime.

KMGH reached out to Douglas County Schools for comment. Paula Hans, a public information officer for DCSD, said she could not discuss specifics on any given student’s disciplinary actions, only saying “a student is not allowed per DCSD dress code policy to wear anything that is offensive or disruptive to the learning environment.”

When asked if the white student’s jacket had any Nazi markings, Hans only said the principal at Mountain Vista High School informed her that there were “no markings on the jacket.” 

According to the Denver Post,students said the white teenager was known for wearing the green jacket complete with Nazi regalia. A review by a newspaper reporter of the juvenile’s Instagram account shows multiples pictures of him wearing Nazi uniforms.

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/11/watch-white-high-school-student-nazi-jacket-gets-punched-black-classmate

A viral video filmed inside a Denver high school shows a white student wearing a Nazi uniform jacket getting punched by his black classmate— and research into the white student’s background showed he posed with other anti-Semitic memorabilia.

The Denver Post reported that the video shared by Baltimore-based graphic designer Benjamin Jancewicz was shot in August at Mountain Vista High School in the Denver suburbs.

In the video, which was recorded on Snapchat and set to LL Cool J’s 1990 hit “Mama Said Knock You Out” to preserve the anonymity of the students, the black teen is seen punching his white classmate in the head.

The Denver Post reported that the white student was recorded doing a “T-pose,” a gaming meme that Lt. Lori Bronner, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman, said has been associated with “the KKK to represent a burning cross.”

The report and Jancewicz both noted that the white student called his black classmate a racial slur, though it’s unclear if he said it before or after the student punched him. The student in the Nazi jacket then reportedly tried to throw a rock at the other teen, who later kicked him while he was on the ground.

Bronner said both students were arrested and charged in relation to the fight — the white student with “harassment, disorderly conduct and criminal attempt assault” and the black student with “assault, harassment and disorderly conduct.”

Jancewicz noted on Twitter that Mountain Vista High School had its share of problems in the past, including racist graffiti that was directed at black coaches at the school.

The school also was home to two students who plotted to “recreate Columbine” there as well, the graphic designer noted on Twitter.

Jancewicz said he was sent social media profiles said to belong to the white student in the Nazi jacket that show his apparent fixation with Nazi symbolism and memorabilia.

In the photos and videos the Baltimore designer posted, the teen described by the Denver Post as a high school freshman is seen posing with a flag bearing an Iron Cross and a Soviet flag and wearing the same jacket he appeared to be wearing in the video.

Raising a Controversy

Marylanders love their unique flag. But do they know its association with the Confederate cause?

Benjamin Jancewicz does not pay for HBO, and he is not a native Marylander. He grew up on a First Nation reservation in Canada. But this past July, when he learned the creators of Game of Thrones were in talks to bring a controversial new series Confederate, which revisits the Civil War and imagines a present in which the South had won—to the cable giant, he began noodling around the internet for the backstory of Maryland’s flag. His interest in the state’s ubiquitous flag, as a graphic designer, and Maryland’s conflicted role in the Civil War, as an activist, naturally intersected and piqued his curiosity. Like many non-natives, he also admits to some bewilderment at Marylanders’ unbridled love for their flag.

Almost immediately, Jancewicz found information linking the red-and-white quadrants of the flag—and the cross bottony contained therein—to the Confederate cause. Maryland soldiers fighting for the South often pinned the cross bottony to the lapels of their gray uniforms. And local citizens caught wearing the colors red and white during the war, or dressing their babies in such, could be charged with treason. “It’s not tough to dig this stuff up,” he says. “It’s right there on the state’s website.”

Jancewicz’s first tweet that night was intentionally provocative:

I can't afford @HBO, so lets talk about the Maryland flag and piss off some racists. #NOconfederate pic.twitter.com/M78DeI31AR

— Bucky with the Good Arm (@benjancewicz) July 31, 2017

He posted in the same Twitter thread that, after the war, Maryland tried to reconcile its split personality by creating its first official state flag—the one we admire today—in 1904. It combines the black and gold paternal Calvert crest—associated with the Union during the war and the flag of Baltimore City today—with the red and white crest of the maternal side of the Calvert family, which had been co-opted by the Confederates. (The Calverts, notably George, son Cecil, and grandson Charles—the first three Barons of Baltimore—were the founding family of the Maryland colony.)

The backlash was swift. Right-wing news outlet Breitbart caught wind of Jancewicz’s viral tweet and published a rebuke. Red Maryland, a conservative group, began a “Save Maryland’s Flag” petition. Gov. Larry Hogan declared the flag would not be changed on his watch. TV and radio stations interviewed Jancewicz, who received threats.

“More than anything, I think the response demonstrated two things: Most Marylanders don’t know the history of their flag,” Jancewicz says. “And that for all the people who say flags and monuments don’t matter, they are obviously important to a lot of people.”

Then, the controversy died as quickly as it had arisen. There was no broad call for the flag be redrawn. (Not that Jancewicz advocated one; he only encouraged people to learn its history.) We simply hold it too dear. At least for now.

The short answer to the question, “Does part of the Maryland state flag have ties to the Confederate cause?” is easy. Yes. Easy answers to other questions are more elusive. Because Maryland Confederate sympathizers and soldiers embraced the colors of the maternal side of the Calvert coat of arms (created in England in the early 17th century), does that mean the flag is forever tainted? When claims are made that the Maryland flag was created to “reconcile” Union and Confederate sides after the war, is that true?

Or, is it better understood as an attempt by white, Southern-sympathetic state legislators to assert their prominence? Certainly, the creation of the state flag was not an effort to repair the harm of two and a half centuries of slavery in Maryland to African Americans. Even at the time the legislators were claiming to bring together opposing sides of the war (nearly four decades after its conclusion) by formally adopting the flag, attempts were made by state legislators to disenfranchise black voters.

The bigger question may be whether Maryland should fly any flag paying homage to the Calvert family—either black and gold or red and white. The founding family’s record on race is shameful. In 1639, under Cecil Calvert—the second Lord Baltimore—Maryland became the first colony to specify baptism as a Christian did not make a slave a free person, as it did in England. In 1664, led by the third Lord Baltimore, plantation owner and Proprietary Governor Charles Calvert, Maryland became the first colony to mandate lifelong servitude for all black slaves, the first to make the children of slaves their master’s property for life, and the first to ban interracial marriages.

Still, it is hard to overstate the popularity of the Maryland banner. There’s a store in Hampden, Baltimore in a Box, whose entire brick rowhouse exterior has been painted to replicate the flag. There is an enormous unfurling during University of Maryland football and basketball games.

The flag can be seen on beer koozies, bikinis, beach blankets, T-shirts, key chains, cycling jerseys, and winter hats. On Twitter, Jancewicz posted a compilation of state flag tattoos.

Indeed, before Baltimore in a Box had finished the repainting of their Hampden home, an image of the massive Maryland flag storefront popped up on reddit with appropriate kudos: “T-minus 24 hours until Baltimore’s [Instagram] models come out in droves to pose in front of this.”

“People walking down ‘The Avenue’ in Hampden take pictures of it all the time without ever even in coming in,” says store owner Ross Nochumowitz. “Marylanders love the state flag. They think it’s perfect.”

To locate the origin of our admired state banner, you need to drive an hour north of London to St. Mary’s Church in Hertingfordbury, England. The design that would form the basis of our flag is inside the medieval stone chapel there, atop the beautiful funereal tomb of Anne Mynne, the first wife of George Calvert, who died, it is believed, while delivering the couple’s 11th child.

On one side of the mantle behind the marble sculpture of her body—lying in repose in a flowing gown, her head resting on a tasseled pillow—is the unmistakable black and gold crosshatching of the paternal Calvert crest. On the other side of the mantle, toward her feet, is the Mynne family crest—red and white with what is known as the cross bottony (a Christian symbol with each arm terminating in three rounded lobes).

“It is a moving tribute from George Calvert to his wife,” says Henry Miller, a historical archaeologist and director of research for St. Mary’s City. “And you can’t help but be impressed when you see the Maryland colors there together.” When Miller leads tours of Marylanders interested in the state’s English roots to Hertingfordbury, the sight of Anne Mynne’s tomb and what would eventually become Maryland flag, he says, “is always the highlight of that trip.”

Digging past the Confederate question for a moment, there is also a smaller controversy around the maternal family origins. Most Maryland texts refer to the red and white and cross bottony quadrant as the “Crossland banner” or “Crossland arms,” in reference to George Calvert’s mother’s family—the Crosslands—and not to his wife Anne Mynne’s family. But that appears to be up for debate given the visual evidence at Anne Mynne’s tomb. Ed Papenfuse, the former Maryland state archivist, believes it’s a mistake passed down through the years before the documentation of the Mynne family crest at George Calvert’s wife’s tomb.

There is still no evidence to date, however, that explains why the Southern sympathizers in Maryland—some 25,000 men joined the Confederate Army—embraced the red and white quadrant and cross bottony. It is known that Maryland’s U.S. Union troops often stitched the black and gold Calvert emblem, more closely associated with the North, into their uniforms. So it may have just been a logical response by Confederates to co-opt the other half of the founding family of Maryland’s coat of arms. Conveniently, red and white were also colors strongly associated with the Southern cause. There is also the possibility that the cross itself imbued a certain religious crusade quality to the Confederate effort in the minds of its faithful.

Whatever the case, the cross continued to turn up as a Confederate symbol. It became the focal point of an ornate iron gateway in front of the Maryland Line Confederate Soldiers’ Home in Pikesville. And crosses bottony are fixed to the tombstones of Confederate soldiers in Maryland and monuments to Maryland’s Confederate soldiers at the Gettysburg battlefield. Also known: In 1945 the General Assembly mandated that a gold cross bottony—that Maryland Confederate symbol—is the only ornament that can be mounted above the state flag. In 1983, a version of the flag was put onto state license plates. From time to time, the red and white colors and cross bottony are still flown by neo-Confederates.

“For Marylanders, it was a very potent symbol of the Confederacy,” Papenfuse says. “But it was not created to serve the Confederacy. It was created to honor the important role of women in the Calvert family.”

Indeed, the heartbreaking inscription on Anne Mynne’s tomb from her husband, George, who went into seclusion from grief after her death, describes his wife of 18 years as “a woman born for all outstanding things.” “The bottom line, to me,” Papenfuse says, “is that its meaning has other aspects beyond its sad connection to the Confederacy.”

The flag, similar to Confederate monuments in the state, “are toxic and stressful to deal with, but we have to talk about them and deal with them,” says Morgan State University associate professor Lawrence Brown. “They are directly linked to racist policies put in place in the past—in fact, they were part of the animating effort that built support for those policies—many of which still exist today.”

Brown doesn’t believe there will be widespread demand to change the flag unless people on one side start using the red and white banner at their rallies, in the same way the Confederate flag is used. “Then, I think you’ll see pushback. Same thing with the Francis Scott Key monuments [Key, a slave owner and anti-abolitionist, included a lesser-known, pro-slavery stanza in his ‘Star-Spangled Banner’]. If they become a rallying point for white supremacists or the KKK, then there will be conflict and pushback.

“You can’t predict which way the river of history will turn, or where the rapids will appear,” Brown continues. “It is important to dismantle the symbols of racism, but that is not the end goal. It is more important to dismantle the polices they represent.”