One of the Wisconsin high school students who refused to raise his arm in an apparent Nazi salute for a prom photo last spring says he would never have participated if he had known his fellow classmates would pose that way.
A photo showing more than 60 male students from Baraboo High School seemingly giving the so-called “Hitler greeting” on the steps of the Sauk County Courthouse before their prom last spring, has stoked controversy after it was posted on social media on Sunday.
The questionable image shows nearly all of the male students, clad in suits, raising their arms in the air with smiles on their faces – but not Jordan Blue.
In the photo, the grim-faced 18-year-old appeared to be visibly uncomfortable with the situation. He was only one of a few students who didn’t raise their arm in the photo.
“It was a scary moment and it was very shocking,” he told CNN’s “New Day” on Tuesday. “The photographer said to raise your hand, but he didn’t say a specific way. My peers should not have raised it in the specific way that was the offensive way and hurtful way.”
The photographer Pete Gust, whose son also appears in the photo, said he simply asked the students to wave goodbye to their parents.
“There was nothing intended in any way shape or form to simulate anything that was offensive to anyone," he told The Associated Press. “If there's any error, it was me in timing the shot.”
The photographer said the students were in various stages of raising their arms when the photo was snapped.
“To anyone that was hurt I sincerely apologize,” Gust wrote on his website.
Blue said he was uncomfortable by the “intent” he noticed in his classmates’ arms as they posed.
“At that moment I was uncomfortable. I was very hurt. I was very scared for the future,” he recalled. “It was wrong. It shouldn’t be OK and it’s not OK.”
In a letter sent to parents on Monday, the Baraboo School District said they were investigating the situation and will pursue “any and all available actions, including legal, to address the issue.” The city’s police department also confirmed it was assisting the school district in the investigation.
Kevin Vodak, the school board’s president, said, as a private citizen, that he was “deeply disappointed” and “appalled” by the photo.
“The photo has shaken to the core my personal belief of the process that we as a community and as a school district have made to be tolerant, inclusive, accepting and admitting of all of those who are different from ourselves,” he said.
On Monday evening, approximately 100 people rallied in front of the Baraboo court house where the photo was taken to promote positivity in the city.
Blue stressed that his classmates’ actions are not representative of Baraboo’s close-knit community, or of his school.
“Baraboo is a phenomenal community and is not a racist community,” he said. “This photo is not a representation of the senior class at my high school. It’s just a very bad situation that happened and we have a lot of growing and learning to do.”
With files from CNN and The Associated Press
