
Image source: YouTube screenshot
A Virginia public school district has officially apologized for a logo resembling a swastika placed on T-shirts distributed to staff members at a professional development conference.
“We are deeply sorry for this mistake and for the emotions that the logo has evoked by its semblance to a swastika,” Hanover Public Schools Superintendent Michael Gill wrote in an apology Wednesday, according to WRIC-TV. “We condemn anything associated with the Nazi regime in the strongest manner possible.”
Gill wrote that he believed the shirt design was “created without any ill intent” by a teacher, the station said, and that the logo was intended to “represent four hands and arms grasping together” as a symbol of unity.
The superintendent also said the T-shirt was no longer being distributed and that the district was attempting to remove the logo from all conference materials, WRIC reported.
The station said images of the T-shirt made the rounds online Wednesday morning, which resulted in heavy criticism of the district.
Rachel Anne Levy — who is Jewish as well as a Democrat candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates in Hanover — criticized senior district officials, WRIC said.
“Note that Superintendent Mike Gill blames a teacher. Unacceptable,” Levy said, according to the station. “NOTHING like that logo goes out or gets approved without his or his PR guy Chris Whitley’s say so.”
Daniel Staffenberg, CEO of the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond, told WWBT-TV he is "angry" about the logo: “I understand why people are angry. I, myself, am angry. I hope this was a simple oversight because the resemblance, while it’s not an official swastika, the resemblance would have raised a flag for many.”
But a few commenting on the NBC News video report about the logo see things differently:
School Officials In Virginia Apologize For Logo Resembling A Swastikayoutu.be