A recent exclusive story on Huffington Post.com was a detailed exposé about Dayanna Volitich, a 25-year-old social studies teacher at Crystal River Middle School in Florida who turned out to be a White supremacy advocate and has been removed from the classroom pending an investigation of radical views she has espoused.
Those who have read the story are now aware of the fact that the previously largely unknown Volitich harbored vehemently racist, sexist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic viewpoints that she promoted on social media and her White nationalist podcast “Unapologetic” under the pseudonym Tiana Dalichov. There’s also strong indication that she hoped to influence her students with her views.
Like many bigots, her targets were the usual targets of White racial hatred – Blacks and Jews. Other non-Whites and non-Christians did not escape her paranoid, deluded wrath. In fact, Volitich viewed Muslims as deplorable and such a supposed menace to society that she advocated for total eradication of their existence from society. For those of us who are students and scholars of history, such perverse rhetoric sounds eerily similar to that of more than a few mentally unstable and sadistic dictators who were responsible for centuries of incomprehensible atrocities.
To add insult to injury, when her activities were exposed, rather than come clean about the fact that she had been busted, Volitich reverted to the outlandish and intellectually dishonest claim that her assertions were merely a form of political satire and did not represent her professional career. She also denied being a White nationalist or White supremacist.
Did I mention that she has lavished immense praise on former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke? Sounds like a bona fide White supremacist to me!
We’ve heard excuses like hers before. When racists, anti-Semites, homophobes, xenophobes and other social misfits get caught pouring gasoline on racially inflammatory fire, their first response more often than not is to deny their culpability. Once they realize that such a disingenuous response is insufficient, they resort to the standard line, something like: “If anyone was offended, I deeply apologize. Such actions are not a reflection of who I am.” Or some other pathetic non-apology. Anyone with any semblance of moral decency knows better than to believe such dishonesty.
Even more disturbing is the fact that Volitich is just the latest of a growing number of educators of young children being exposed as having ties to far-right ideology and groups. Since 2016, more than a dozen educators have been exposed for their White nationalist viewpoints. From elementary school teachers to high school principals, to private school teachers to guidance counselors, these racist men and women have attempted to infiltrate their ideology into action. This is alarming, though not surprising.
