Editorial: Symbol has no place in our schools

Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2003 | 8:58 a.m.

It's sad to learn of students at Centennial and Cimarron-Memorial high schools who are protesting their schools' ban on clothing or accessories that depict an Iron Cross. It's unfortunate that their education has not yet progressed enough for them to understand how the symbol, since World War II, has been associated with Nazism and misappropriated by hate groups.

In the independent kingdom of Prussia, where it was first awarded in 1813, the Iron Cross was a military medal awarded to those who had served with distinction. When Prussia became part of the German Empire, and later when it became a German state, the medal continued to be a Prussian badge of honor. In 1939, as Nazi Germany began its invasion of Poland, Adolf Hitler appropriated the award and changed its meaning forever. He imbued the Iron Cross with all of the "glorious" imagery of Nazism and proclaimed that it would become the foremost symbol of loyalty to his cause. Men and women awarded the Iron Cross were considered heroes in Nazi Germany. Those who understand history know that their heroics were in support of a military regime that would have mercilessly crushed any students standing outside their schools in protest of it.

In our view, the Iron Cross is unregenerate. Owing to Hitler, the images associated with it now and forever are those of the holocaust -- concentration camps, genocide, homicidal racism and anti-semitism, and world domination. The teenagers who now feel so wronged because they cannot wear this symbol to school certainly cannot image the horrors suffered by teens their own age -- and their families -- a mere 60 years ago in Nazi Germany. Those teens today who wish to wear the symbol may not realize how its symbolism has been distorted and claimed by hate groups. It will take a few more years of education and a few more years of maturity for them to understand why an Iron Cross woven into their T-shirts is such a big deal.

This does not excuse the clothing manufacturers, however. To us, it's beyond insidious for corporations to exploit the naivete of young people in this way. Inventing trends and marketing them has long been acceptable. But executives of companies who foist such symbols upon young people should take a long look in the mirror and ask themselves just what they have they become. People need help in navigating their way through childhood and young adulthood. Parents and schools have an obligation to pass on a sense of history and sensitivity to young people and so do the corporations whose incomes are derived from them.

The reason the symbol is now banned by Centennial and Cimarron-Memorial is because it was being used by the 311 Boyz, a group of current or former students of Centennial that is characterized by Metro Police as a street gang. Nine of the group's members have been indicted on 13 felony counts stemming from the beating of three Cimarron-Memorial students in July. Our schools must be able to set standards, including the banning of symbols that incite such behavior and promote ignorance over learning.