A group of high school students in Wisconsin appeared to give the Nazi salute in a group photo before junior prom, sparking a police investigation into the matter.
In the photo, over 60 male students stand on the steps of a local courthouse, all dressed up to go to the Baraboo High School junior prom. Many of them have their right hands raised in the air in what appears to be the "Sieg Heil!" — a terrifying old-school Nazi salute.
The photo is from the spring, but somehow, it went under the radar until now. On Monday, writer Jules Suzdaltsev retweeted the photo from a former Baraboo student.
"If anybody from Baraboo High School in Wisconsin can clue me in on why it appears the entire male class of 2018 is throwing up a Sig Heil during their prom photos – that would be great," Jules tweeted.
That tweet now has over 25,000 shares at the time of this publication, and everybody seems to have the same questions: How?! Why?! And most importantly, how do we make it stop?!
Meanwhile, the photographer claims that the students in the photo were simply waving goodbye to their parents, CNN reports.
The "Sieg Heil!" salute is a gesture that dates back to the Holocaust. It's the gesture that Nazis used to show their devotion to Adolf Hitler, and for most of us, it's a signal that we see only in historical photos — not in our real lives.
That's why this photo of over 60 male students at Baraboo High School in Wisconsin is causing serious controversy.
https://twitter.com/jules_su/status/1061863141720637440
Many of the students in the photo appear to be giving the "Sieg Heil!" salute while laughing and smiling into the camera. The photo was taken just before the students, who are actually in the class of 2019, went to junior prom.
With the rise of white nationalism into the mainstream, this photo is less surprising than it should be — and it's also downright terrifying.
"I’m not surprised by them doing this,” former Baraboo student Alisyn Amant told the New York Times.
“But I’m surprised that there’s so many of them doing this. Photographers were there; the parents were there; community members were there.”
The photo was originally taken in the spring, when the Baraboo High School junior prom was held. At that time, it seemingly went under the radar.
But on November 11, an anonymous Baraboo High School account, @GoBaraboo, tweeted the photo with the caption, "We even got the black kid to throw it up #barabooproud."
Another former Baraboo student, Carly Sidey, retweeted the photo.
"This post has since been deleted, but i just want [Baraboo School District] to be aware of the disturbing actions that are represented in this photograph,” Carly tweeted on Sunday. “This is BEYOND sickening.”
After that, writer Jules Suzdaltsev retweeted the photo as well, and it quickly went viral nationwide. Both the school district and the local police are now investigating the incident.
A Baraboo School District administrator, Lori Mueller, spoke out against the photo in a tweet on Monday, claiming that the photo "is not reflective of the educational values and beliefs of the School District of Baraboo."
And the Baraboo School District sent a letter to parents addressing the incident and their investigation.
For what it's worth, the photographer behind the scary photo claims that the students were just waving goodbye to their parents. A totally innocent gesture, no "Sieg Heils" to see here!
But an account from one of the students in the photo contradicts that statement.
Jordan Blue is the boy in the red bow-tie in the upper right corner; he's evidently refusing to give the salute.
"The photographer took the photos telling us to make the sign," Jordan wrote in a statement shared with Jules.
"I knew what my morals were and it was not to salute something I firmly didn't believe in."
Similarly, many current and former Baraboo students have reached out to Jules with stories of racism, sexism, and homophobia in the community.
Baraboo is a town of 12,000 people, and it's 94% white, according to the 2010 census.
The captain of the Baraboo Police Department told reporters that he "can't recall ever having something like this happen in Baraboo."
It seems more likely that people just turned a blind eye until this photo went viral on the internet.
Again, seeing Nazi salutes in a 2018 photo isn't as surprising as one would hope. But maybe, just maybe, the impact of this story will force Baraboo to finally hold these students accountable.
