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The Pitch

The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

WJ vandalized with racist and homophobic hate speech

Walter+Johnson+was+found+vandalized+the+morning+of+Sunday+October+3.+The+graffiti+included+hate+speech+and+references+to+white+supremacy.
Photo Courtesy of anonymous
Walter Johnson was found vandalized the morning of Sunday October 3. The graffiti included hate speech and references to white supremacy.

Messages of hate speech were found vandalizing the walls of WJ this morning, October 3. The graffiti on the school walls included references to white supremacy and hate speech towards the LGBTQ+ community. The vandalism has since been cleaned off by the school staff and the building restored to its original state. 

Those responsible are yet to be identified; however, Principal Jennifer Baker assured the WJ community in the email she sent that “any students involved will receive disciplinary consequences in alignment with the student Code of Conduct in MCPS.” 

Baker urges those who have any questions or concerns to feel free to contact her.

“As always, I appreciate your support as we strive to build a safe, welcoming and inclusive environment where all students can thrive. Do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions or concerns,” Baker said.

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The WJ community is shocked and appalled by the vandalism on the school building.

“I am absolutely disgusted by this behavior. I believed that our school has grown past this stage but according to late events it has not, which is very disappointing,” senior Shai Ben Eliyahu said.

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Yuval Shachar
Yuval Shachar, Print Editor-in-Chief
Yuval is a senior, excited to be a Print Editor-in-Chief for her third year of the Pitch! Outside of Room 193, she enjoys reading, listening to music, and spending time outdoors.
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    Nolan WilsonOct 7, 2021 at 5:18 pm

    I am a former student,

    I think people like that lead sad, miserable lives wanting something to hate, not interacting with anyone, and found a cool scapegoat. Got roped in by people with malign intentions who made him think they were his friends. Guy was probably vulnerable got radicalized to the point where he watches videos of nazis burning books or showing off guns with dubstep in the background and goes “f**k yeah”.

    of course, this is no excuse for what he did. Hes a disgusting cretin and there is probably a reason he was vulnerable to that stuff in the first place. Bigotry is not a coping tool and he deserves to be held accountable. But its good to at least try to understand why people like that go there, so we can avoid it happening to other people

    Its important to note that if he actually knew anyone he was doing that shit against he wouldn’t have done it. I guess he never associates with anyone, and someone took advantage of it
    not defending it at all, but recognizing the causes. I don’t think going to jail is going to help him. If anything it will only make him spiteful towards the people he hated. And it would be on his record making it worse. Might even drive him to commit violence. I dont know the details or if they ever caught him though

    I don’t sympathize with him, but I think this is something we can all become if we dont find some form of happiness in our lives. People dont feel emotion towards people they have never hang out with, entered into a relationship with, shared memories with. He spent his time hating people he could have loved and connected to, and that is the most tragic part about this.

    Its very isolating to be a high school student, especially one who probably spends all of their time on the internet, listening to people pointing blame and feeling angry. There is nothing to gain by outrage, but there is something to gain with compassion.

    I hope yall are all doing well. This is pure speculation of course, perhaps he was the exact opposite of the type of person I described and his idiot friends thought it was funny.

    But what I described was the primary way people are driven to act in such a barbaric manner, vandalizing things, beating people, and even killing people. Break the cycle of the alt-right pipeline. Show them that the stuff they hate so much has no effect on their lives, or if so, only a positive one. There is more to a person than their “white identity”, their race. or something like that.

    I am glad I have seen enough to know that.

    Once again I hope yall are having a good day. I left WJ to live in Florida last year and unfortunately this is not a one off case. I still love WJ and I hope people are able to see this.

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