Dallas ISD High School Teacher Placed on Leave After Allegations of White Supremacist Activity

A teacher from Skyline High School is on leave and under investigation after he allegedly expressed neo-Nazi sentiments online and in white supremacist groups.Stephen Arnquist, who teaches a Japanese language class, was placed on leave Thursday, WFAA-TV (Channel 8) reported. A watchdog website on Thursday posted his profile and alleged involvement with white supremacist group Identity Evropa, which helped plan the violent 2017 Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Va., that left one person dead.Arnquist began working at Skyline in August 2018, Dallas ISD said in a statement that did not mention him by name. The statement said school district officials learned about the allegations Thursday and placed him on administrative leave the same day.The Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League classify Identity Evropa as a white nationalist and white supremacist group. Its adherents claim to be the last frontier to save the white race and advocates for a white ethno-state. It rebranded itself as the American Identity Movement in March, according to the SPLC.A website devoted to identifying members of the group posted multiple profiles and comments, allegedly from Arnquist, from across LinkedIn, neo-Nazi forum Stormfront and Identity Evropa’s Discord chats. The post made by an anonymous antifascist activist attempted to connect the dots and show that the man who sometimes posted under only his first or last name is allegedly the Skyline teacher.In one Discord post, an author who calls himself "Stephen" says he teaches Japanese in “the ghetto” and goes on to explain how his high school has gone from being majority white to mainly black and Hispanic. He calls seeing the transition in school photos “not fun.”In another post, Stephen calls his students “somewhat higher tier blacks and Hispanics,” though still “unimpressive” compared to mostly white classes he’s observed.“Dallas ISD is committed to providing high-quality instruction in every class,” the district said in its statement. “We proudly embrace the diversity of our students and value the families we serve. Together, we believe every student can grow, succeed and achieve.”Officials declined to comment further, saying it was a personnel matter.  Continue reading...