‘TONE-DEAF’

Parents Furious Georgia School’s New Logo Resembles Nazi Crest

After East Side Elementary presented a new eagle logo, parents were quick to point out its similarities to the Nazi eagle.

On Monday, an elementary school in Georgia’s Cobb County School District announced its new logo, meant to depict the mascot, an eagle, “soaring into excellence.” But some parents were quick to point out that it actually soars straight into antisemitism. The proposed logo for East Side Elementary shows an eagle flying above the school’s initials and resembles, in some parents’ views, Nazi iconography. As The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported, the 1920s-era Nazi eagle shows the animal carrying a swastika. After parents expressed outrage on social media, the district said that it is pausing the implementation of the new logo to review necessary changes. “We understand and strongly agree that similarities to Nazi symbolism are unacceptable,” the district said in a statement. “Although this design was based on the U.S. Army colonel’s eagle wings, stakeholder input has been and continues to be important to our schools.” The school district has dealt with antisemitism before—last year, someone spray-painted graffiti featuring swastikas at two high schools. “This is not the first time Cobb County schools have been tone-deaf to antisemitism,” the director of the American Jewish Committee Atlanta region said.