(Photo: Jamaica Ponder, Snapchat)
A photograph posted to a social media site is currently under investigation by the police after showing students from a New Jersey high school participating in a “Jews vs. Nazis” drinking game.
Posted to Snapchat, the photo was captured by a student at Princeton High School who used the image to write about the incident on her blog, saying, “Perhaps it is a joke. But then I guess the punchline would be: genocide.” She went on to refer to the drinking game being played as racist, insensitive and indefensible.
The photo in question portrays students playing a version of beer pong being referred to as “Holocaust Pong,” or “Alcoholocaust.” Students in the photo are pouring beer into two sets of cups that were being arranged to symbolize the Star of David and the swastika. The team of “Jews” received an “Anne Frank” cup they were able to hide anywhere in the room, while the “Nazis” received the power to “Auschwitz” one of their opponents to remove that player from the game, writes Emma Brown for The Washington Post.
The 17-year-old student who blogged about the photo, Jamaica Ponder, told reporters that she went to school with the students pictured.
“They are athletes and student leaders,” Jamaica said. “They’re prominent individuals that everybody knows, captains of sports teams.”
Ponder wrote about the photo on her blog, saying that posting the image to social media meant that someone was proud of what was going on and wanted to show other people. She went on to say that whoever would do that was stuck in a “delusional mindset” causing them to believe that a Holocaust drinking game would be “cool.”
The Princeton Police Department has said that it has started an investigation into the origins of the photo. However, it added that possession of alcohol by minors was not a crime as long as they are on private property. Lt. John Bucchere noted that if evidence existed that suggested someone had bought the alcohol for the minors or had specifically provided a place for them to drink it, that would be illegal.
Princeton Superintendent Steve Cochrane expressed his sadness over the idea that students from the school would participate in a drinking game that held “clearly anti-Semitic” overtones.
“An incident such as this one, forces us to take a hard look at our efforts in educating our children in the values that may be most important to their success in life,” Cochrane said.
Cochrane said that the district would be contacting parents and discussing the photo with them and the students. Nothing has been said pertaining to whether the students connected to the photo would face disciplinary measures.
Jamaica said she had contacted the school prior to posting the photo on her blog.
“A couple of people came up to me using profanities, but a lot of people were very kind and I’d say appreciative of what I did,” she told NJ.com. “Someone needed to show what exactly is going on when no one’s paying attention.”
