Extra police will be stationed at Point Loma High School for the remainder of the school year, and school officials will talk to junior ROTC cadets about tolerance and cyberbullying after hate speech was found posted on an Instagram account linked to students.

The account, which was created in March, was closed after it was brought it to the attention of school officials, the FBI and the anti-Defamation League of San Diego last weekend. A second, “copycat” account was created by another student this week before it, too, was shut down.

Some Point Loma residents, already on edge after three homes were tagged with swastikas in late May, were alarmed to learn of the accounts, which included memes of guns and ammunition, talk of a school militia, as well as anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim messages.

The troubling social media posts were discovered less than two weeks after retaining walls on three homes on Santa Barbara Street in the Point Loma Heights area were tagged with swastikas drawn in blue chalk.


Police have made no arrests in the case. A school district spokeswoman said the Instagram accounts and vandalism were not thought to be related.

Screenshots of the Instagram account show posts depicting a swastika and the Dr. Seuss character the Lorax with the quote, “The trees say six million wasn’t enough,” and one saying that America needs to shut down mosques and ban Islam. Another asked Point Loma High students if they “would like to join the militia.”

Point Loma High School Principal Hans Becker said he talked to about 10 students while investigating the hate speech — those who he thought might know something about the account and those who felt they were victims of bullying. He said he quickly identified those involved.

He said school police investigated and determined there was no threat to the campus.


In an email sent to parents Monday, Becker said he could not discuss student discipline but urged parents to talk with children about the importance of showing respect to others. “We work hard throughout the year to create a climate where all our students feel welcome,” Becker wrote. “The end of the year is a time to celebrate our common achievements. This is not the time for division.”

The principal planned to send a second email to parents Thursday that discussed the steps the school took after the hate speech was discovered.

Becker said he will work with the Anti-Defamation League over the summer to find way to promote tolerance on campus. “Bottom line is we are committed to making sure kids feel safe and we want to make sure we have an environment where people can grow, thrive and learn,” he said.

Because a photo posted on the Instagram account showed a student wearing a Junior ROTC uniform, some parents had emailed Becker expressing concerns. JROTC is a program offered in schools that seeks to instill the values of citizenship, patriotism and personal responsibility, and teaches the benefits of military service.


Starting Friday, officials will meet with all of the school’s JROTC cadets to talk about tolerance and what to do if they see something that isn’t right, Becker said. “We thought, let’s just go ahead and make sure they are all getting the same message in JROTC,” he said. “If (the student in the post) had a football uniform on, we would want to talk to the football team.”

Community members said they were dismayed to hear of the hate messages, which they said intimidated and frightened some students. Gretchen Gordon, the mother of a Point Loma High graduate, said she heard at least one child stayed home from school because of the issue.

Gordon said the original Instagram account had more than 100 followers — but none of those students apparently came forward with concerns. “There were other students who were following that account. No one reported it. No one said anything to an adult,” she said. “We need to work on that as well.”

Ruth Hargrove, who has lived in Point Loma more than 20 years, said she found the social media posts to be “horrifying.”


“My concern, I guess, is just on a visceral, human level, it is horrifying to see a kid or a group of kids apparently directing their hate at other people based on their ethnicity,” she said. “I’m 65 years old. So I remember when the Klu Klux Klan rose in the ‘60s.”

Hargrove said she’s been tracking the issue through discussions on Next Door and other platforms, and she’s glad the school is taking the issue seriously.

“The thing that lets hate flourish is silence,” she said. “So I think people need to be willing to speak out against it and let the victims know they are not alone.”