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EL SOBRANTE — Twenty-four hours after local news reports first shined the spotlight on the giant swastika carved in his front yard, Steven Johnson just doesnt get the commotion. But what Johnson calls a “design” sure does look like the Nazi symbol — and it has set his East Bay neighbors on edge.
“That Nazi (stuff) happened like 80 years ago,” Johnson said Wednesday, sitting on his Harley Davidson motorcycle in front of his home in this out-of-the-way neighborhood where a narrow road separates houses tucked together on both sides. “Get over it, I guess.”
Thats not about to happen.
Aerial footage from local news stations on Tuesday captured the cement swastika, which measures about 10 feet by 10 feet and sits adjacent to the walkway of Johnsons home, taking up half of the front yard of the modest one-story house. A day later, media and gawkers continued to show up on the street, and drone used by a photographer for a national news company hovered above the house, snapping images of Johnsons yard.
The uproar over the swastika comes just as the world is commemorating the 75th anniversary of D-Day, when Allied Forces landed in Normandy, France on June 6, 1944, a battle considered one of the major turning points of World War II.
Speaking to a reporter and photographers after pulling up to his home Wednesday morning, Johnson was polite — and also showed zero remorse for his Nazi stone garden.
“I like swastikas,” he said. “I think they look cool. … I didnt do it to get attention. Im not a worshiper of Nazis. I just thought itd be a cool thing to put in there.”
Calling the design a “Tibetan symbol,” Johnson said the swastika symbolizes “peace, tranquility and harmony.” But while the ancient symbol used in many eastern religions traditionally faced counter-clockwise, the symbol used by Nazi Germany — like the one in Johnsons yard — turns to the right.
That swastika is widely recognized as a symbol of hatred, associated with the persecution and systematic murder of millions — including about 6 million Jewish people — under the Third Reich.
Johnsons decision to build one has not inspired good feelings from neighbors, two of whom privately Wednesday expressed their disgust with his decision. And as images of the giant Nazi lawn art spread, others outside the community said they were deeply offended
“Personally, and professionally, I find it deeply deeply offensive,” said Nancy Appel, a spokesperson for the Anti-Defamation League. “The thing is huge, its in concrete and symmetrical. It appears that a lot of effort went into it.”
Anti-Semitic incidents — including the appearance of swastikas in plain view of the public — have been on the rise in CRead More – Source
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