More info - Nazi flag at Texas football game

[Carmerian]

My first inclination was to post this to the LBN thread about the story, but that's getting long and is filled with lots of flaming.

My wife brought it my attention that the opposing high school at this game was none other than Hillcrest High School from Dallas. Hillcrest has probably the largest jewish population of any public school in Texas. In fact, my wife says its nickname is "Hebrew High". She knows this because she went to and graduated from Hillcrest.

With that in mind, I'm less likely now to think this whole incident was just a little accident. I could almost overlook the fact that they also did it on Rosh Hashana, but this?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. It was deliberate. It was NOT a history thing.

This was an EDUCATOR. This HAD to be run past SOMEBODY prior to occurring. This was a racist intentional SLAM.

[Stupdworld]

2. perhaps so

the vision of a nazi swastika anywhere is so sensitive an issue, it isn't even debatable. (like a confed flag for example)

this type of oversight seems so funamentally overt it has to be intentional. someone should be fired for it.

[Robin Hood]

3. <Cough>Fucking Texas<Cough>.

Surprise, surpise, surprise.

[leftofthedial]

10. <cough>FOOTBALL<cough>

the most fascist of all sports

the state that gave the world the most powerful cabal of fascists since 1945

duh

I'm suprised they didn't burn a cross on the field at halftime.

[Carmerian]

12. As a native Texan

I hate highschool football with a passion. At my high school, almost all of the money for sports went to the football program, and the other sports existed just to give the football players something to do in the off-season. On top of that, they got their choice of positions in those other games, and everyone else (the non-football players) had to take what was left over. Don't even get me started on using stupid football coaches to teach regular classes, either.

[LanternWaste]

4. I don't think it was intentional or a mistake....

Having been in marching band when I was in high school and a few years in college and having followed the Drum Corp International scene for many years, I'm inclined to think it *was* an accident and that it may have been blown out of proportion.

Marching bands and DCI give themselves a lot of artistic freedom in producing the shows. In 1988, the theme for one of the DCI finialists was the "1812 Overture" using French and Russiaon flags, in addition to a beefed up rifle corp doing mock battle.

What I've heard about this particular show is that it was a marching-musical translation of WWII and used not only the nazi flag, but the flags of Japan, America, England and the Soviet Union.

I'm a pretty liberal guy and scoff at most justifications used when someone defends the confederate flag, but this seemed a sincere attempt to simply 'put on a good show'.

Additionally, I really wouldn't expect too many people from Dallas (or Texas for that matter) to keep Rosh Hashana in their conciousness. I'm from one of the next towns over from Dallas and consider myself pretty keen on maintaining tolerance and bridging gaps, and the first indication I had that it is Rosh Hashana was in my local paper's article about this story.

Maybe it was a bad idea. I really don't think it was. I think it was an attempt by a band director and his drum majors to put on a show which addressed one of the major conflicts of history. To make his presentation unique and thought provoking. NOT to offend anyone or make ANY kind of political statement.

Maybe I'm wrong and the director's a closet anti-semitic, but having seen a lot of half-time shows over the years illustrating everything from past wars to Post-Modern Cubism, I'm inclined to think it was sincere and innocent.


On edit: *Most* marching bands chart out their show in late July or early August when practice begins and use them for every football game for the rest of season. Thinking that this was *timed* to coincide w/ Rosh Hashana would be a mistake, in my opinion.

[Carmerian]

7. I thought pretty much as you did

until my wife told me they were playing Hillcrest. Sorry, that's one too many coincidences for me.

[madrchsod]

5. i just heard about this

so i went over to "stormfront" to see what the troopers were saying,shit these guys are split over this issue..of course no one thought it was offense- because after all- "they are only judens"..but they disagreed on whether it was in their interest to still use the nazi flag. but one poster brought up the fact that if we ban one flag or another our consitition is worthless..anyone check over at the respected new republic? or satan`s sister lucy?

[LittleDannySlowhorse]

6. A Nazi flag?

I thought Ah-nold was too busy campaigning to go to Texas football games.

[eek]

8. Your wife? Me too!

I put this up on the LBN thread earlier this evening!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=140479

48. Happened at my alma mater!

This Bizarro World bit of entertainment took place at the highschool I attended.
I've sat through plenty of games at the very field they mention.
Funny to see it in the news, to say the least.
When I went to Hillcrest mumbldeymumble years ago the majority of kids were Jewish.
Whenever one of the High Holies came around those were some mighty empty halls!
Dunno if the demographic has changed over the years but I doubt it has much.
Hillcrest is smack-dab in the middle of the city of Dallas.
Though it gags me to say it, Dallas is fairly urban, cosmopolitan, sophisticated.
Paris, Texas? Hicks. Dairy Queen, football, racism, guns, date rape.
Well, Sam Shepherd wrote a play named after the dump so its got that goin' for it. Which is nice.
Go frickin figure what sort of message, subliminal or otherwise or collossal brain fart led these yay-hoos to such a thing.

[Carmerian]

9. Ah! Sorry, I missed your post there

It was hard to pick out the good posts from the flames in that thread

Yeah, Dallas proper is a decent enough place - the last three mayors have been a jewish woman, a black man (Ron Kirk, who ran for the Senate), and another woman who is an activist. It's too bad it has the right-wing suburbs it does. Austin has the same problem.

"Whenever one of the High Holies came around those were some mighty empty halls!"

Now THAT'S funny! I went to a school in California that had a large number of jewish students and that's what happened there, too. :)

[NashVegas]

11. So they aren't the sharpest tools in the shed.

from AP/Wired:

"The show, titled "Visions of World War II," nearly caused a melee at Friday night's football game at Dallas' Hillcrest High School.

...

The show was performed in Paris, about 100 miles northeast of Dallas, a week earlier after the homecoming game against Athens.

The band, which began working on the show in August, planned to perform it at the University Interscholastic League contest Oct. 15."

I don't think it was planned purely to piss off a school with a Jewish population.

In their minds, they were probably doing something along the lines of a huge, creative stage production. A Big Pageant. You don't expect to watch a movie about WW2 Germany and not see a Nazi flag, now do you?

They got pelted with rocks and garbage, hopefully learned that HS Football Band isn't the place to try to practice *coughs* high art.

[mrbill]

13. the band director should get a golden dumbass award

The halftime show would have worked at 99% of the high schools in Texas. Noone would have even noticed the German flag. Then polite applause for the band and their historical tribute. Now - screw the band - it's time for football.

At Hillcrest he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Somebody needed to do their homework a little better.

No way this dumbass band director knew that Hillcrest has a large Jewish enrollment. He has probably never lived in Dallas.

The guy needs a 3-hour cultural sensitivity training course.