{"id":44000,"date":"2021-10-29T23:14:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-30T05:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/hate-symbol-associated-with-white-supremacy-displayed-at-durango-school-board-meeting\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:17:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:17:01","slug":"hate-symbol-associated-with-white-supremacy-displayed-at-durango-school-board-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/hate-symbol-associated-with-white-supremacy-displayed-at-durango-school-board-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"Hate symbol associated with white supremacy displayed at Durango school board meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The Durango School District 9-R administration office, 201 East 12th St., will hold holiday hours from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 19 to Dec. 22.<\/span>Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

First it was COVID-19 policies, then it was critical race theory and now it appears to be white supremacist imagery that took center stage at a Durango School District 9-R board meeting.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the SS Bolts symbol \u2013 a white supremacist and neo-Nazi symbol that was adopted from the Schutzstaffel (SS) of Nazi Germany \u2013 was displayed digitally by a virtual attendee at the regular 9-R school board meeting<\/a> held Tuesday. The symbol was accompanied by the word \u201cTyranny\u201d in bold, black font.<\/p>\n

Student representative to the board Hays Stritikus was the first to notice the SS Bolts symbol that appeared briefly on virtual attendee and Durango resident Britny Hanson\u2019s Zoom window just as the public participation segment of the meeting was coming to a close.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomebody\u2019s showing Nazi propaganda on the web camera,\u201d Stritikus said.<\/p>\n

Hanson spoke earlier during the public participation segment but quickly had her audio cut because Hanson violated the school district\u2019s public participation guidelines<\/a>, said school board President Kristen Smith.<\/p>\n

\"Kristin
Kristin Smith, Durango School District 9-R board member<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cOnce again we\u2019re having a school board meeting online because you guys continue to make up laws that don\u2019t exist to keep the taxpayers out of the building that (we pay) for,\u201d Hanson said. \u201cNonetheless, it really doesn\u2019t matter. You won\u2019t be in your seats forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hanson then said she is excited about a lawsuit <\/a> that was filed Monday against the school board and district spokeswoman Julie Popp, the designated election official for the school board election. In a previous interview with The Durango Herald<\/em>, Hanson took credit for contributing to the research that serves as the foundation of the lawsuit\u2019s accusations against school board candidate Andrea Parmenter, although Hanson does not appear as a plaintiff in the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

\"Brown\"
Brown<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

School Board Vice President Erika Brown said Hanson held her phone up to her web camera and her phone displayed an image of the SS Bolts.<\/p>\n

Smith said after Stritikus called out the Nazi imagery, Smith directed a person moderating the Zoom meeting to remove Hanson from the meeting.<\/p>\n

In an interview with the Herald<\/em>, Hanson said she displayed the SS Bolts because she wanted to indicate the \u201ctyranny\u201d the school board has assumed.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a Native American, I am disgusted that they are playing this race card, safety card,\u201d Hanson said. \u201cThey\u2019re trying to take away from their tyrannical and abusive behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hanson said she is from the Muscogee Nation.<\/p>\n

When asked what she meant by \u201ctyrannical and abusive,\u201d Hanson said, \u201cI just feel like those are the comments that I need to make.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked again about what was tyrannical about the school board\u2019s conduct, she repeated that she\u2019s \u201cdisgusted\u201d the school board is \u201cplaying the race card.\u201c<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m offended by what they\u2019ve called me,\u201d Hanson said. \u201c\u2026 They have called me a white supremacist, yes, they have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hanson\u2019s display of the SS Bolts caused a stir this week on social media, with many Facebook users denouncing the use of such imagery. But even after the online firestorm, and claiming to have used the symbol to insinuate the school board was \u201ctyrannical and abusive,\u201d Hanson claimed Friday she wasn\u2019t familiar with the symbol\u2019s use by hate groups and the Nazis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just know that their tyrannical behavior is what is reflecting right now,\u201d Hanson said. \u201c\u2026 I\u2019m familiar that there\u2019s tyrants. I\u2019m familiar with that. I know my Native American history. And that\u2019s what I\u2019m familiar with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith said Hanson has disrupted previous board meetings.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo there\u2019s kind of like a long pattern or history of this,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

School board members said they started holding board meetings virtually in part because of Hanson\u2019s disruptions. When informed of this Friday, Hanson restated she is disgusted the board would pull the race and safety card.<\/p>\n

Smith said Hanson has yelled at board members during previous meetings about mask policies. In August, she refused to move from her chair or leave the school building after a meeting was canceled because public attendees refused to wear masks or respect public health attendance limits.<\/p>\n

At the Sept. 28 school board meeting, Hanson said school mask policies were harming children in the district and quoted a Bible verse suggesting it was better to kill oneself than to harm a child.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones,\u201d she said, reading from Luke 17:2.<\/p>\n

At the same meeting, Hanson publicly declared the Durango school board her \u201cenemies\u201d and also singled out Superintendent Karen Cheser and Smith by name.<\/p>\n

\u201cI consider that a threat, a real threat, actually,\u201d Smith said during an interview Friday. \u201cI think that\u2019s the purpose of those statements, to intimidate and to make you feel threatened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith said she doesn\u2019t know if there\u2019s anything behind what she called Hanson\u2019s threats, and she added that Hanson is not the only person who has antagonized the school board.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just one community member,\u201d Smith said. \u201cBut it is a small group of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown said she considers both situations from the Sept. 28 and Tuesday meetings to be examples of hate speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, everyone who was there on both nights was pretty shaken up afterward,\u201d Brown said. \u201cAnd there\u2019s, you know, staff that don\u2019t feel safe. Board members that don\u2019t feel safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith said the school district recently hired a new board clerk, who happens to be a person of color, and the clerk was offended and felt fearful after the Nazi imagery was displayed Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe local Jewish temple reached out to me and they were pretty disappointed,\u201d Smith said. \u201cWe have several Jewish students, especially in our high school and all throughout our schools. That kind of signage is really offensive to them and to their families and to their faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

Student representative \u2018horrified\u2019<\/div>\n

Stritikus, a junior at Durango High School, a self-described member of the LGBT community and a student representative to the board, said he couldn\u2019t believe his eyes when he spotted the SS Bolts appear in Hanson\u2019s Zoom window. He said he was completely shocked and revolted that someone would display Nazi imagery during a public school board meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy great grandfather fought in WWII against Nazis,\u201d Stritikus said Friday during an interview. \u201cMy grandmother immigrated to America after the Nazis burnt down her village. She remembers hiding in caves so that the Nazis wouldn\u2019t kill her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just horrified that somebody would display that in a public board meeting for completely no reason. I thought it was just absolutely childish and disgraceful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stritikus said he can\u2019t speak to Hanson\u2019s true intent, but he guessed that she was comparing the school board to the Nazi regime that systematically murdered millions of people for their political and religious beliefs and affiliations, ethnic status and skin color, and sexual orientation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think it\u2019s absurd to compare being muted at a school board meeting because you broke a very clear and reasonable set of rules with a regime that genocided millions of people,\u201d Stritikus said. \u201cI think that was kind of, just ridiculously absurd.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stritikus said Hanson has disrupted previous meetings, but none that compared to her actions Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to have to be the adult in the room to have to point that out and police that, but it\u2019s unfortunate that it happened,\u201d Stritikus said.<\/p>\n

The student board member has already seen his fair share of confrontation, too. At a special school board meeting in August about COVID-19 school policies, he said a crowd of attendees made many disruptions and outbursts.<\/p>\n

Stritikus spoke up in front of the crowd to share his perspective about mask use as a student: He said his grandmother and grandfather had been diagnosed with cancer and his mother had breast cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think masking protects our community; it\u2019s not about protecting yourself,\u201d Stritikus said. \u201cIt\u2019s about protecting those who are vulnerable. I don\u2019t think they liked hearing that. Once again, I respect individuals who disagree with my opinion, but I was shocked at how they chose to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

One individual interrupted Stritikus as he spoke, and a couple other people booed him when he shared his thoughts about mask use.<\/p>\n

Stritikus wasn\u2019t the only student to see the hate symbol at the Tuesday meeting. Twenty-five to 30 kids were watching the meeting for a class assignment, Smith said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor our public participation, we hold everyone to a pretty straightforward set of rules,\u201d Stritikus said. \u201cOne of the rules is that you can\u2019t name district employees. She named a district employee and President Smith muted her microphone. She clearly was angered by that and decided to display the SS Bolts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Durango 9-R School Board released a statement Wednesday evening addressing the incident:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Durango 9-R Board of Education unequivocally condemns any form of hate speech and will not allow hostile acts to distract from our efforts to foster vibrant, safe and inclusive environments for all 9-R students, families and staff. Hate speech has no place in our community, and it is incumbent upon all of us to speak out against antisemitism, racism and bigotry, wherever and whenever it arises. We are all committed to utilizing our powers, policies, actions and laws to pursue inclusion, equity and respect for all.\u201d<\/p>\n

cburney@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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