'Tip of the iceberg': what a Nazi salute video says about Orange county

In the past year, several high schools in the California county have been engulfed in scandal over racist behavior by some of their white students

Students have arranged red plastic cups in the shape of a swastika. They’ve held up “We love White” signs. They’ve chanted a Nazi marching song.

Several high schools in Orange county, California, have been engulfed in scandal in the past year over racist behavior by some of their white students. This week, videos surfaced showing a group of boys from Pacifica high school in Garden Grove doing the Sieg Heil salute and marching with German and Confederate flags.

The latest controversy has reignited anger and anxiety among Jewish communities and students of color, with many questioning why this keeps happening. To some, the answer is obvious: White supremacy has a long history in Orange county, and officials aren’t taking the threats seriously. The consequences, they say, could be deadly.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Orange county was known as a recruitment hub for neo-Nazi groups, sometimes resulting in violence and hate crimes. And although it now counts more registered Democrats than Republicans, the county was long one of the blue state’s rightwing strongholds, with xenophobic, racist and homophobic politicians holding some of its top jobs.

“People have this skewed perspective of California – that it’s liberal, that it’s hippies,” said Melissa Shaw, a former Pacifica high school student, who is Jewish. “That was not my experience in Orange county … I felt like I was running from the neo-Nazis.”

Experts say the far-right is still active and dangerous in the region. A member of a local militant neo-Nazi group was charged last year for murdering a 19-year-old gay Jewish classmate. The so-called Rise Above Movement (Ram), one of the most prominent white supremacist groups linked to recent violence, is concentrated in Orange county, according to the Anti-Defamation League.