A man was expelled from a Birmingham, Michigan, Board of Education meeting for flashing a Nazi salute and chanting "Heil Hitler," according to the Detroit Free Press. Police are investigating the incident.
The meeting was focused on mask mandates for students, causing anti-maskers to boo and hurl insults at board members and speakers, including a high school student.
While a black woman and a Jewish woman were addressing the board in support of the mask policy, a man in the audience performed a Nazi salute and repeated "Heil Hitler." Two men behind him also repeated the phrase.
"Birmingham Public Schools emphatically denounces and will not tolerate any act of racism, disrespect, violence, and/or inequitable treatment of any person, including actions and statements made at Board of Education meetings," Superintendent Embekka Roberson wrote.
State lawmakers also expressed disgust over the Nazi salute.
“I am shocked and appalled to see the use of racist, Nazi language and imagery in our community, particularly by parents attending a school board meeting. Let me be clear: racism, antisemitism, and any other forms of bigotry and hate have no room in our discourse or our community, and I forcefully condemn the use of this phrase and gesture at yesterday’s Board of Education meeting,” Rep. Mari Manoogian, D-Birmingham, said.
“For the last 18 months, our state, country, and world have suffered a collective trauma. But the use of Nazi phrases and gestures is beyond the pale in any context; it disrespects the memory of those murdered in the Holocaust and dishonors the values of our community."