Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/12/31/west-virginia-corrections-cade.html
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I hope WVA’s governor realizes this is an error of saying the quiet part out loud, not a one-time anomaly. They didn’t just randomly pull a whole class of white supremacist thugs by luck of the draw. That’s a culture into which they’ve been indoctrinated. A further alarming thing is that exactly one of the hands in that photo might belong to a POC, and if so I’d be interested to know the backstory of how that person was persuaded to participate in a Nazi salute hailing a former Klansman.
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From the article:
It’s captioned “Hail Byrd” in a reference to instructor Karrie Byrd. She was responsible for Class #18 teaching cultural diversity.
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I missed that reference, but doesn’t that explanation seem a bit odd too? Like, if that other Byrd was responsible for teaching “cultural diversity” she seems not to have done an especially good job. Is this then supposed to be ironic? Did it occur to nobody that the Byrd in question might be mistaken for a notorious racist (albeit allegedly reformed in later years) from their own state? The math on that picture isn’t hard any way you slice it. It’s so easy, in fact, that I’m inclined to be suspicious of any explanation that tries to frame it as an innocent lapse of judgment.
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I don’t think the “heil-ing” was ironic, but I definitely thought it was some kind of ironic that they were doing so at the behest of the cultural diversity teacher. I mean, what are the poor writers at the Onion going to do, now that the paper writes itself?
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I thought the closed fist salute (arm raised vertical) was traditionally used by Communists, the Nazis’ enemies. But I suppose they were not aware of that.
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Not one of them had the balls to flip the bird for that shot.
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Join the National Union of Journalists? (Or US equivalent.)
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You have to be brain dead to think this wouldn’t come back to bite you in the ass. Even if I was a white supremacist, there is NO WAY I’d pose for a pic like that even as a joke. Then again, they usually aren’t the brightest.
Slight tangent, recently re-watched American History X. Probably more relevant today than when it was made.
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Or maybe not all of them were comfortable doing Nazi salute and that was the way to show disapproval (I really hope so). The other possibility is that symbol is being slowly appropriated by white power groups.
Wikipedia has a really good article on it:
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As you wish.
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That’s what I thought too. Without knowing what led to the photo maybe that was how they could appear to be participating (like, for their safety) but not be participating.
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According to the summary, Byrd told investigators that she was unaware of the hand gesture’s historical and racial implications and said she thought it was a greeting.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
How do people actually manage to form those words?
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Wow. Sounds like she sucks at her job.
“Howdy Hitler!”
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They’re not brain dead, they are so entitled and privileged that they think the standards for not being a racist (and probably sexist, homophobic, islamophobic, antisemetic, transphobic, etc) asshole doesn’t apply to them, doubly so, as they are becoming corrections officers. And given how our society consistently gives people doing shit like this a pass, and asks people discriminated against to forgive over and again, no matter the costs, only serves to reinforce their belief.
Can never watch that movie again, as good as it is… I can’t watch that scene… I just can’t. Green Room, however, might be my favorite skinhead movie, and not just because Patrick Stewart is in it as a skinhead… Although, This is England is also a fantastic movie, if you haven’t seen it. It’s pretty relevant right now, too, with the rightward turn in the UK over immigration.
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I am sure that is how they feel, but anyone who thought about it for 1 minute would say, “Gee, this is bad optics, even if it is sort of known secret around here. I bet this would end up on the news if it got out.”
Maybe not - I dunno.
Jesus Christ - when I first saw that scene, my friend and I just freaked out. We were like holy fuck!!!
I haven’t seen Green Room, though interesting Stewart is in it, Avery Brooks is in American History X. I’ll try to check it out, thanks.
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