This week, news broke that the FBI have initiated an inquiry into a likely hate crime, where a swastika was carved onto the back of a Jewish child with special needs at a Clark County high school last month. The anti-Semitic symbol, which was previously employed by Nazi Germany, was discovered by the 17-year-old Las Vegas teen’s mother on March 9, as reported by the Jewish Press. When the mother contacted the school the following day, the aide assigned to the boy claimed nothing of the sort had occurred. The youngster, who wore a Jewish kippah to school daily, is nonverbal and has autism. He was accompanied by a service dog, and a bag attached to the pup was found to have been tampered with. The family consequently removed their son from the high school, deeming it to be an “unsafe environment”. Subsequently, the Clark County School District Police was apprised of the situation, and the FBI has since joined the investigation with the potential to classify it as a hate crime. In light of the incident, the Anti-Defamation League of Nevada published a statement dubbing it a “violent, antisemitic act”. Not only was the student targeted for his visible faith, but he was additionally vulnerable due to his disability, which exemplifies the intersectional nature of hate across marginalized communities. This incident comes the same week as Holocaust Remembrance Day, which was observed on Tuesday, and commemorates the six million Jews who were killed during World War II.
This week, news broke that the FBI have launched an investigation into a possible hate crime, where a swastika was engraved onto the back of a Jewish youngster with special needs at a Clark County high school last month. The Nazi-affiliated symbol was found by the 17-year-old Las Vegas teen’s mother on March 9, according to the Jewish Press. When the mother contacted the school the following day, the aide assigned to the boy denied any such incident had taken place. The boy, who wore a Jewish kippah to school daily, is nonverbal and has autism. He was accompanied by a service dog, and a bag attached to the pup was found to have been tampered with. The family consequently withdrew their son from the high school, deeming it to be an “unsafe environment”. Subsequently, the Clark County School District Police was notified of the incident, and the FBI have since joined the probe with the potential to label it as a hate crime. In response to the incident, the Anti-Defamation League of Nevada released a statement describing it as a “violent, antisemitic act”. Not only was the student targeted for his visible faith, but he was further vulnerable due to his disability, which serves to illustrate the intersectional nature of hate across marginalized communities. This incident, which comes the same week as Holocaust Remembrance Day, observed on Tuesday, honors the six million Jews who were killed during World War II.
