Walking by a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation building in downtown Sacramento, people noticed a Nazi flag could be seen through a window. Below the flag, which was hung on a wall, were a pair of SS bolts. Michael Johnson was one of those people who noticed the hate symbols through the window of this government-owned building. He recorded a video and uploaded it to Imgur, where it quickly went viral.
“That’s cute. That’s real cute. City of Sacramento letting f--king people like that work in your buildings,” Johnson says in the video, which he took Friday night. By Monday morning, after videos and outrage went viral online, the displays were out of sight.
“You didn’t have to be close to the building at all,” Johnson, who works across the street, stressed to local outlet KTXL. “People driving by could see it.” Johnson also said he felt it’s a terrible representation of the city.
“The flag has been removed, and we apologize for this profoundly incendiary act,” Dana Simas, the department press secretary, stated. “The display of an image representing violence and bigotry is a gross violation of department policy. … Those found in violation of the department’s policies will be held accountable.”
Simas clarified to The Washington Post that it’s actually a training room in the video, not an office. Simas said that items like these are used to teach officers what to look out for when it comes to gang and hate symbols. Simas did say, however, that officials are still investigating whether or not these specific items had been used in such an educational session.
One might reasonably ask: Okay, even if it was for a training session, why are these items hung where they’re so clearly visible in a street-facing window, with no apparent context?
The department seems to be curious about that, too. As of Monday morning, the corrections department began an internal investigation. It’s not clear how long the items were visible from the window before they caught attention on social media.
While it’s still unclear what went wrong at this California office, the trend of Nazi flags (and salutes, and marching songs, and symbols, etc.) popping up in public places is a disturbing one.
As covered here at Daily Kos, for example, there were the Minnesota teenagers who made Nazi-themed Valentine’s Day dance invitations. Or the California high schoolers seen giving the Nazi salute in a video. Or the group of teenage boys in Wisconsin seemingly giving the Nazi salute in a photo before the prom. While this California office has issued an apology, this hopefully serves as a reminder—at a minimum—that people in power need to operate with a whole lot more contextual awareness.