We are tempted to think of it as simply a matter of “Stupid is as stupid does.”
And perhaps it was for some of the 34 state Division of Corrections trainees involved in that Nazi salute photo.
But that famous assessment of stupidity in “Forrest Gump” goes to the fact stupidity is no surface thing.
Neither is the content of someone’s character, which is what Martin Luther King famously noted, we should judge people on — their deeds, their actions.
Unfortunately, in this incident, the content of the character of some of those trainees who performed this salute, smacks of a bit more than stupidity.
Last week, an official-like photo emerged of a corrections training class showing most of the men and women in it extending their arms in a well-recognized Nazi salute.
For anyone who is ignorant of this salute’s origins or meaning it was adopted in the 1930s by the Nazi Party to signal obedience to its leader, Adolph Hitler, and to glorify Germany.
The salute is illegal in many European countries and Canada. It is still much in use by neo-Nazi groups and white supremacists groups in America and West Virginia. Ironically, one component of these corrections cadets’ training is how to identify white supremacy groups in prison.
To the credit of Gov. Jim Justice and the secretary of the Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety, two trainers at the Glenville academy and one cadet were fired.
More than 30 others in the photo or associated with it have been suspended, too. The investigation is ongoing and names are expected to be released later.
This incident obviously just slimes our state’s reputation even further and reinforces ugly stereotypes.
For public employees to even allow personal photos in some kind of warped “joke” as this to be taken should be grounds for their termination.
But to perform this salute in a group — in uniform, the state’s seal attached and with trainers’ blessings — goes well beyond just doing stupid stuff.
It qualifies as racism and anti-Semitism, not to mention acceptance of the hate and human suffering this salute signifies to all.
We can almost understand a group of adolescents, like those at a Wisconsin high school last year, stupidly performing a Nazi salute going unpunished. Though they got an education about that salute later they will never forget.
However, there’s no excuse for dozens of state employees participating in such an act, be they stupid or racists at heart.
King warned in 1963 that “It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment.”
That moment is here, again, and we urge the governor not to let it pass without further action.
