Grand Blanc Parent Feels School Shirt Has Nazi Symbol

Valid or too sensitive? One local parent is claiming a shirt designed to show united support at athletic event is actually supporting hate.

The t-shirt in question is being sold at Grand Blanc High School for students to wear while cheering on the Bobcats in the student section. It's tradition to have themed  shirts and colors for games to show unity among the student body especially during varsity sporting events. The shirt in question has one local parent offended and voicing their concerns.

The parent feels the lettering on the shirt  looks like a Nazi symbol. The shirt has "SS" at the top used to spell out Student Section. The font used, the parent feels, is reminiscent of the symbol that identified the SS back in Nazi Germany.  The SS was created to guard Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. From 1929 to 1945, the SS grew from a small  unit to one of the largest and most powerful organizations in Nazi Germany.

Grand Blanc Assistant Principal Gary Goetzinger told us the lettering on the shirt, which was actually designed by a student, was inspired by the rock band Kiss. The entire shirt, front and back, was based on paying homage to a Kiss album. Goestzinger spoke to the parent who declined to identify himself on the two occasions when the parent called him. "Everything we have done within the past 3 years especially with the Positivity Project is geared to character building and open mindedness", said Goetzinger. "And this month we are doing a Cultural Competency program. Grand Blanc has always been accepting of culture and the diversity and awareness of the feelings involved."

The parent has since taken the story to the media and declined to sit down with administrators.