Amid community outrage after social media images appeared to show area high school students at a weekend party saluting a swastika assembled from red plastic cups, campus reactions Monday ranged from shock to unsurprised, though the actions were roundly condemned. A community meeting about the incident was held Monday evening at Newport Harbor High School, which many of the students at the party attend. The Newport-Mesa Unified School District said it is investigating the images, posted on various social media, which also show the teenagers smiling, laughing and toasting over the swastika, which appeared to be used in a drinking game. Students from Costa Mesa High and Estancia High, also in Costa Mesa, said Monday that students from both of those schools also were present. “While these actions did not occur on any school campus or school function, we condemn all acts of anti-Semitism and hate in all their forms,” Newport-Mesa Supt. Fred Navarro said in a statement. But Jocelyn Navarro, a junior at Newport Harbor in Newport Beach, said Monday that she wasn’t surprised when the photos surfaced Sunday morning. At Newport Harbor, she said, students group themselves along racial lines: Hispanic students with other Hispanics, whites with whites. It is less intentional than unconscious, she said. “White people stay together, Mexicans stay together. We naturally just do it because we know that’s the way it is,” she said. One student who posted a photo of the swastika surrounded by students told another student in an online conversation that “you are stupid if you think we actually support what Hitler did. It was a joke. None of us are … Nazi supporters.” Parents of two students identified as being involved in the party declined to comment Monday. Bianca Lutz, a 16-year-old Newport Harbor student who was not at the gathering, said she was “extremely disturbed by the ignorance of those at the party” and said some of her Jewish friends felt threatened. An image from Twitter shows a swastika made from red plastic cups at a party said to involve high school students from the Newport-Mesa Unified School District. (Photo from Twitter) Newport-Mesa spokeswoman Adriana Angulo said the district is working with the Costa Mesa and Newport Beach police departments on the investigation but didn’t provide details. She said district officials don’t know what their next course of action might be or what punishments could be meted out. The party, which apparently took place over the weekend, occurred in Costa Mesa, according to Newport Beach police spokeswoman Heather Rangel. On Monday, Newport Harbor students poured out of school buildings wearing every shade of blue as an act of solidarity with the Jewish community. “I’m very glad that we are all making a statement that the vast majority of us believe that this is disgusting,” senior Sam Quattrociocchi said during lunch. “Some people at the party thought they were making an edgy joke, and they were completely wrong.” Fellow senior Timothy Shannon said “most people are trying to figure out ways to better ourselves out of it.” In Costa Mesa, the mother of two students who went to the party said she was “very upset” about their presence. The woman, who declined to give her name, said she wasn’t aware there was a planned gathering of teenagers and that alcohol would be served. “The kids go out with their friends all the time. I’ve never seen my kids drink. I’ve never seen them drunk,” she said Monday. Her children spent last weekend with her former husband and she did not hear about the party, where it was held or the swastika incident until Sunday, she said. She said her anger and sadness stem from the fact that she is Jewish, along with her family members. Antonio Fair, a junior at Costa Mesa High, said: “I feel like they just did something stupid and sure it is offensive to a lot of people. But I feel that it shouldn’t be as big of a deal only because we’re still young. I feel like if they didn’t get drunk or if they didn’t smoke, then they wouldn’t have done something that stupid. “I think there should still be consequences but that shouldn’t stick with them for the rest of their life. It shouldn’t define who they are, because we’re still in high school.” Images from the party roiled social media users, who were quick to condemn them. “As an organization dedicated to representing the students of Newport Harbor High School, we and the school administration denounce and condemn all acts of anti-Semitism and hate in any form,” representatives of the school’s Associated Student Body said in a statement on Instagram. “Any negativity due to any type of persecution is utterly wrong, unacceptable and will not be tolerated. ... With all of the bad out there, we encourage everyone to turn to goodness, kindness and respect over hatred.” Newport Harbor Principal Sean Boulton said in a statement that Monday’s community meeting at the school was to include him, Costa Mesa High Principal Jacob Haley, Estancia High Principal Michael Halt and Rabbi Reuven Mintz of the Chabad Center for Jewish Life. “The goal of the event is to start a significant conversation to take us to a place where this sort of behavior never happens again in our community,” Boulton said. “Over the past few years, all Newport-Mesa schools have worked tirelessly to eliminate prejudice, hate and bullying and continually work toward true tolerance and equality. We are obviously not there yet, but the journey continues. “Diversity is the backbone of our schools, but in this social and social media climate, we are subject to hate, offensive acts/language and religious intolerance. We must and can do more.” A group of Newport Harbor High School seniors wore blue to school on Monday, as did many other students, after a social media campaign urged students to wear blue “in solidarity with the Jewish community” and to “denounce anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry.” (Julia Sclafani) Rabbi Gersh Zylberman of Temple Bat Yahm in Newport Beach said in a statement that a town hall meeting is tentatively set for 6 p.m. Thursday at Corona del Mar High School to discuss the incident. “This is a reminder that we must respond to all incidents of anti-Semitism and bigotry in all forms with the utmost seriousness and unequivocal condemnation,” Zylberman said. “It doesn’t matter whether or not they thought it was funny. When we joke about Nazism, its history loses meaning — and we cannot forget that history,” U.S. Rep. Harley Rouda (D-Laguna Beach) said in a statement. “These students must learn that hate has consequences, and their parents and our school district must redouble their efforts to teach them.” Costa Mesa Mayor Katrina Foley, a former Newport-Mesa Unified trustee, said in a statement that “we need to seriously address why teens in our community might think these types of hateful symbols are acceptable or funny and worthy of selfies. We must use this incident as an opportunity to work with our school district leaders to encourage schools to implement better anti-bias and anti-hate content in their curricula and extracurricular activities.” Josdel Hernandez, a Newport Harbor junior, said students just last month studied the Holocaust in history class. “They showed us graphic videos of the concentration camps,” she said. “It’s not like our teachers need to show us any more about the Holocaust. They knew what it means.” She said she’s seen incidents of more casual racism at school: a student doodling a swastika on a desk, for example, or cracking a joke about Nazism. Quattrociocchi said “the real problem is that a lot of real neo-Nazis and racists are coming away being emboldened by this.” “I think the most unfortunate thing is that people are suddenly feeling comfortable spewing racist garbage,” he said. Josdel and Jocelyn said students who condemned the Nazi displays faced a backlash on social media from party-goers who questioned why people not of Jewish heritage were upset. “They said, ‘You’re not even Jewish — why are you getting all offended?’” Jocelyn said. “We don’t have to be Jewish to be offended. We’re offended because it’s wrong.”<doc-sep>The Newport Harbor High School theater was packed Monday night with community members lining the walls and crowding for a place to sit on steps. In the wake of a weekend party in which smiling students were pictured giving Nazi salutes around a swastika made of red plastic cups during a drinking game, parents and students rose from the steps to give standing ovations to speakers who talked of change. “This isn’t an isolated incident,” said Max Drakeford, a Newport Harbor senior who said anti-Semitic symbols often are invoked in comments and antics among students. “I pee next to swastikas in the bathroom. I write essays on desks with swastikas etched in them.” But this time, he said, it happened to be photographed and shared widely on social media, triggering community outrage. Administrators in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District held a public forum Monday to address what transpired at the off-campus party Saturday night in Costa Mesa attended by sophomores and juniors from area high schools. Students have said teenagers from Newport Harbor, Costa Mesa and Estancia high schools were present. Shock and disgust on campuses after Newport-Mesa students are pictured saluting a makeshift swastika, though some aren’t surprised » More than anyone at the meeting, students aimed to focus the conversation not on the specifics of the incident and who was involved but on changing the social climate in which it occurred. “I don’t think condemnation of the kids that did it or harassment of the kids that did anything is justifiable,” said Drakeford, who is Jewish and was accompanied Monday by his grandmother, a Holocaust survivor from Budapest, Hungary. “What we need to focus on is educating people to the point that they aren’t ignorant enough to commit something like this,” Drakeford said. “The blame is on all of us. This environment allows [students] to feel comfortable doing that.” Some who were at the party and others who defended it have said the Nazi symbolism was a joke and doesn’t mean the students who participated support Nazism. With Nazi salutes around a makeshift swastika, Newport Beach students spark outrage » But Newport Harbor sophomore and student government member Gina Leaman spoke of social and racial divisions on campus, including a tendency for Hispanic and white students to group among themselves. She said it foments a culture in which racial and anti-Semitic prejudices rarely are challenged. “This is not OK,” she said. “We live in an extremely privileged community, and that privilege can lead to bigotry and hate,” said Gina, who told of hearing jokes and other remarks jabbing at her Jewish faith as early as fourth grade. “It is your responsibility to stand up for what is right. It is the community’s responsibility to change the perception of hate in this community. “It has been like this for far too long. Hold your children and your peers accountable. This must come to an end.” One parent released apology letters from some students Monday evening. “I am ashamed none of us stepped up to take down this sign, and we should have stepped up right then and there to say it’s not right,” the parent’s child wrote. Teens involved in swastika party apologize as outrage grows. ‘My actions were disgusting’ » Phil D’Agostino, Newport-Mesa director of student and community services, said the district began investigating the party early Sunday and has had conversations with more than two dozen students and their families. “Where we have concluded it is appropriate to apply consequences, we have done so,” D’Agostino said. A teacher who did not want her name used said three of her students who were identified as being at the party didn’t attend her class Monday. She said she didn’t know the details of why. “This isn’t a time for us to be shaming kids who do stupid things,” said Jeanne Pepper Bernstein, the mother of Blaze Bernstein, 19, who was killed a little over a year ago in Lake Forest. Samuel Woodward of Newport Beach, a former arts school classmate of Bernstein’s, is accused of murdering him because Bernstein was gay. “It’s time to educate,” Pepper Bernstein said. “It’s a learning opportunity for these kids and this community. I don’t think you realize when you live in such a beautiful, privileged place that there is a lot of ugliness in the world.” Drakeford and Ben Kwong, a Newport Harbor senior who also is Jewish, wrote an open letter widely shared among students on social media in response to the events at the party. “This is really just not who we are,” said Kwong, adding that most students “don’t harbor any anti-Semitic values.” “There might have been like two kids” with anti-Semitic views who participated in the Holocaust-themed drinking game, Kwong said. But he was troubled that “of 20-plus people there, no one stepped up and said anything,” he said. “I think they were just ignorant, a little insensitive,” Kwong said. “They didn’t know about the harm that the swastika carries.” He implored parents in the theater to “tell your kids how to handle that, be a role model for shutting that idea down.” During school Monday, students organized to wear blue in a show of solidarity with the Jewish community. At Newport Harbor, students in all grade levels streamed out of school buildings at lunchtime in every shade of blue jeans, button-down shirts, T-shirts and school hoodies. “It felt safe today,” Kwong said, “like anti-Semites receded back into the shadows.” The Los Angeles Times contributed to this report.<doc-sep>An affluent Southern California community was rocked by social media images of teenagers apparently giving the Nazi salute while gathered around red plastic cups arranged in the shape of a swastika. Newport-Mesa Unified School District pledged to cooperate with law enforcement in trying to identify any of its students who might have been in the offending picture and were drinking underage. The images appeared on social media over the weekend, according to schools spokeswoman Adriana Angulo. Newport-Mesa Unified students salute over a swastika made from red plastic cups. Faces obscured by NBC News. Twitter "We were recently made aware of social media postings involving some students who created inappropriate anti-Semitic symbols, and possible underage drinking," Angulo said in a statement. "While these actions did not occur on any school campus or school function, we condemn all acts of anti-Semitism and hate in all their forms." She added, "We continue to gather information regarding the conduct of these students and work with law enforcement." But Costa Mesa Mayor Katrina Foley, in a statement on Monday, stopped short of putting all blame on the people in the images. "While we take seriously and object to this hateful activity, I discourage vilification of these teens," Foley said. "Instead, we need to seriously address why teens in our community might think these types of hateful symbols are acceptable or funny and worthy of selfies." Newport-Mesa students toast over a swastika made from red plastic cups. The "ultimate rage" banner on the image was added by the social media user. Twitter “I was simply devastated to see that,” school board president Charlene Metoyer told The Orange County Register. “As a school board, we’re not only concerned by the underage drinking, but also the mental health of the students who participated in this horrendous act and all their fellow students who will be affected by it. This is appalling to not just our Jewish student community, but to all of us who care about human rights.” The Anti-Defamation League and the Council on American-Islamic Relations both condemned the Nazi imagery. "When such actions are considered jokes, hate and bigotry become normalized. And then we open the door for escalating acts of bias," according to an ADL statement. Hussam Ayloush, executive directory of CAIR's Los Angeles branch, said the youngsters in these photos probably learned this behavior from their parents. “We stand in solidarity with the Jewish community and all other targeted minorities and against the actions of bigots who violate our nation’s long-standing principles of religious tolerance and inclusion," Ayloush said in a statement. "These young adults are expressing hatred that has been handed down from an older generation. The current trend of normalizing hate speech has emboldened bigots in their speech, as well as their actions," he said.<doc-sep>
Students appear to salute a swastika made of red drinking cups. Image from Twitter School officials, Orange County politicians and a Muslim civil rights organization are condemning an Internet photo of Newport Harbor High School students with outstretched arms in a Nazi salute gathered around red plastic cups arranged to form a swastika. The photo — said to be have been shot at an off-campus party — was posted on Twitter this weekend, school officials said. “We were recently made aware of social media postings involving some students who created inappropriate anti-semitic symbols and possible underage drinking,” The Newport-Mesa Unified School District said in a statement. “While these actions did not occur on any school campus or school function, we condemn all acts of anti-semitism and hate in all their forms.” The photo was being investigated by laws enforcement, with the district’s cooperation. “We remain focused on educating students on all aspects of life’s challenges and are committed to holding students accountable, educating them on the consequences of their choices and the impact these actions have on our schools and community at large,” the statement said. Congresswoman Katie Porter — who represents the 45th District — also issued a Twitter statement: “I condemn this display of a hateful, anti-semitic symbol and call on parents and community leaders to redouble our efforts to educate young people about the history of violence against Jewish people worldwide. This has no place in Orange County.” Added Coata Mesa Mayor Katrina Foley in a statement Monday morning: “There is no place for hateful symbols of swastikas and Nazi salutes in our community. Glorifying or even joking about these symbols contradicts the values we share as a diverse community. Normalizing these symbols as a joke is dangerous.” Foley says she wants to discourage vilification of the teens who posed for the picture. “Instead, we need to seriously address why teens in our community might think these types of hateful symbols are accwptable or funny and worthy of selfies.” The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations also condemned the picture. “We stand in solidarity with the Jewish community and all other targeted minorities and against the actions of bigots who violate our nation’s long-standing principles of religious tolerance and inclusion,” CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush said. “These young adults are expressing hatred that has been handed down from an older generation.” Ayloush encouraged the Newport-Mesa Unified School District to educate students about “the harm of bigotry.” — City News Service