From turn of the century ghost towns, to downtown Casa Grande, to ancient petroglyphs, I've found swastikas all over the state of Arizona. None of them represent Nazis or hate. In fact, these symbols were considered to be good luck. Unfortunately, negative propaganda has all but distorted the facts behind this intriguing and mysterious symbol.
Swastikas on old Arizona road maps?
Fellow road warrior Tim Steil pointed out this Arizona roads site, which shows a scan from a 1927 Rand McNally atlas. And look on the lower right corner of the page, a swastika on the Arizona highway marker. I included a close-up excerpt of the page. http://rwarn17588.wordpress.com/2006/10/26/swastikas-on-old-arizona-road-maps/
Swastikas on the Colorado
Spanning the Colorado River between California and Arizona stand a concrete dam and bridge which are decorated with swastikas. These crosses, which have come to symbolize horror for millions of people, are recessed an inch and a half into the heavy concrete surrounding them and were undoubtedly meant to last for generations. Eerily similar to the proportion and design used by Adolf Hitler, there are forty-seven of the swastikas which range in size from eight inches square up to eighteen inches square.
Local lore has it that W.W.II German POW’s were responsible for incorporating the swastika within the structures while helping renovate the dam and bridge during WWII. Although there was a German POW camp in the nearby Yuma AZ area during that period, the swastikas were not put there by German prisoners. They were put there by the United States Government. http://smoter.com/flooddam/swastika.htm
Swastika Hindu symbol over restaurant door offends customer
PHOENIX (KPHO) -Paula Slamowitz just wanted Mexican food, when she walked into her new, neighborhood Filibertos. What she encountered, was not very appetizing.
"I was shocked," she tells CBS 5 news, when she saw a red swastika symbol painted above the front door. She was immediately offended by what it stood for, to her. "Nazi-ism, Germany, Skinheads."
Slamowitz thought the store was tagged, and told the manager. She was surprised at what he told her. http://www.kpho.com/story/15013384/swastika-hindu-symbol-over-door-of-filibertos-restaurant-offends-customer
Perhaps, I will start frequenting Filiburtos more often. I don't find the symbols hateful or offensive. Aren't we supposed to respect other cultures? So much for tolerance and diversity. I wouldn't expect anything less from a person named Slamowitz.
Oy Vey! It's like the Holocaust is happening all over again! Give it a rest lady. The Nazis didn't have a monoploy on symbols. These people really get on my nerves. Of course, the liberal media feeds on this like sharks on chum.
Arizona Once Revered the Swastika
Eighty years ago you saw it everywhere in Arizona. That strange symbol, once venerated, now hated, but always misunderstood. Every Arizona Highway route marker used to carry the swastika emblazoned on an Indian arrowhead. As a kind of talisman, the swastika marked the location of trading posts and shops selling Native American art, and it was a common element of the designs woven into Navajo blankets and Pima baskets. The white man recognized it from the old country and molded it into concrete and plaster where it survives to this day. Back then it was a happy symbol of kind thoughts and good luck for the traveler, not the symbol of hate that brought holocaust to Europe. But now, it’s hard to even look at a swastika, let alone discuss its history in Arizona. http://arizona100.blogspot.com/2010/09/arizona-once-revered-swastika-eighty.html
Additional Reading: How Stalin, Mao & Hitler and the USSR & PRC & NSDAP were influenced by the USA's swastika symbolism and more. . .
http://rexcurry.net/45th-infantry-division-swastika-sooner-soldiers.html , http://www.khandro.net/swastika.htm , http://www.featherlessbiped.com/6696/SWASTICK/swastick.htm , http://rexcurry.net/krit_motor_car_company_detroit.html , http://www.fpp.co.uk/Hitler/swastika/Walker_200105.html The USA is still the worst example in the world of bizarre laws that require robotic chanting to a national flag in government schools (socialist schools) every day for 12 years. It has changed generations of Americans from libertarians to authoritarians. The government bamboozled individuals into believing that robotic group-chanting in government schools is a beautiful expression of freedom. http://rexcurry.net/pledge2.html
I'm not exactly sure where the author of the above statement is coming from. I certainly hope he's not wearing tin foil on his head. He is right about our education system turning out mindless individuals who can't come up with original thoughts. I say, be loyal, recite the pledge and not trust your teachers. When I was in college, education majors were the ones taking all of the easy classes.
"We must make it an imperative duty of our government to protect the gifts which Nature has bestowed on America and to insure the maintenance of a clean, healthy, wholesome environment for our people." --George Lincoln Rockwell
