HARTFORD, Conn. — Anti-mask protesters posted a sign outside a middle school in Portland, south of Hartford, on Sunday depicting the local superintendent of schools and board of education chair with Adolf Hitler-like mustaches above cartoon images of children wearing masks.
“I am appalled and sickened at this image appearing in Portland in front of our beloved Brownstone Intermediate School,” said First Selectwoman Susan Bransfield in a statement with local and state officials Monday morning. “Our Superintendent Charles Britton and our Chairwoman of the Board of Education, Sharon Peters, do not deserve this hateful image. It is abhorrent and I strongly condemn it, along with State Representative Christie Carpino and State Senator Norm Needleman.”
An image of the scene shared by The Middletown Press shows another sign stating “UNMASK OUR KIDS,” as well as a protester carrying an American flag, and a Trump flag positioned above the sign with the two school officials’ faces. Above their pictures read: “DISGRACE TO PORTLAND SCHOOL SYSTEM.”
“This is an antisemitic and offensive act of intimidation,” said Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz. “I stand in strong support of the Portland Superintendent and the Portland Board of Education in protecting the health and safety of students, teachers, and their families.”
Attorney General William Tong added: “Hitler killed 11 million people, including 6 million Jews, in one of the worst human rights atrocities known to man. Masks are safe, effective and save lives. There is no comparison and to draw that false parallel is hateful, ignorant and repugnant.”
State Sen. Norm Needleman, an Essex Democrat, said references to Hitler and Nazis have “no place in our political discourse.”
“Whether you agree or disagree over policy, you do not bring this kind of hate to the very campus and classrooms that educate our children. It is disgraceful and I, along with my colleagues, will not stand for it,” he said.
As Connecticut’s positivity rate dipped below 1% last week, the state lifted most of its coronavirus-related restrictions, including most mask requirements for fully vaccinated individuals. But those who are unvaccinated, including children, are still required to wear masks indoors. Vaccinated individuals must also continue to wear masks in certain spaces, like schools and nursing homes.
Josh Geballe, the state’s chief operating officer, explained Thursday in a press briefing that students and staff must wear masks inside school buildings for the rest of the school year. But during outdoor activities like recess, children can remove their masks, he said.
“We’re almost there. The formula (of wearing masks) has worked well, and nearly all those children are unvaccinated still at this point,” he said. “Even the 12- to 15-year-olds who are getting vaccinated right now, they’re not going to be fully vaccinated — that second dose and the subsequent two weeks — until the school year is over.”
While children ages 12 to 15 became eligible for the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in mid-May, the FDA has yet to approve that shot or any other coronavirus vaccine for children under age 12.
“We’ve clarified for districts that it will be OK for children to take masks off outside,” Geballe said. “If they are going to be in small groups coming and going, close to each other ... they should keep their masks on. But once they’re outside playing, masks are no longer required.”
Despite numerous states rolling back at least some mask requirements for outdoor activities or vaccinated individuals, anti-mask protests targeting schools have continued across the country — and rhetoric comparing mask requirements to Hitler’s Nazi regime are not unique to Connecticut.
Trump apologist U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, compared mask requirements for unvaccinated legislators on the House floor to the yellow Stars of David that Nazis forced the Jewish community to wear during the Holocaust in a recent podcast interview, CNN reported.
“You know, we can look back at a time in history where people were told to wear a gold star, and they were definitely treated like second class citizens, so much so that they were put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany,” Greene said. “And this is exactly the type of abuse that Nancy Pelosi is talking about.”
She received swift backlash from Jewish organizations, as well as politicians on both sides of the aisle. However, it was not the first time Greene has received criticism for sharing antisemitic rhetoric. In a 2018 Facebook post, she suggested a space laser connected to the Rothschild family was responsible for California’s wildfires.
