Nearly a month after an investigation revealed seven members of the U.S. military are part of a white nationalist group, a Texas teacher has been placed on leave due to his alleged ties to the same organization.
High school Japanese instructor Stephen Arnquist is said to be a member of Identity Evropa. It is a group that has been known to espouse deeply racist views and promote pride in European ancestry.
Pending an investigation, Arnquist has been put on administrative leave from Dallas’ Skyline High School, officials told various news outlets.
Stephen Arnquist has been put on administrative leave at Skyline High School in Dallas, Texas. (LinkedIn)
“Today, Dallas ISD was made aware of information circulating regarding alleged social media posts and comments by a Skyline High School teacher,” reads a statement issued Thursday, April 4, from the school district. “The employee has been placed on administrative leave, pending the outcome of an investigation. The teacher joined the Skyline staff in August 2018.
“Dallas ISD is committed to providing high-quality instruction in every class. We proudly embrace the diversity of our students and value the families we serve,” it continued. “Together, we believe every student, can grow, succeed and achieve.”
As for the Japanese teacher’s ties to the group, antifascists group Eugene Antifa contributed an article to the website Identify Evropa, an online watchdog group, that connected Arnquist to Identity Evropa.
Among the evidence are screenshots of conversations posted to the messaging app Discord, which has long been used by Identity Evropa members to communicate with one another. Arnquist is said to use the user name “Stephen TX” on the chats.
“I am a high school Japanese teacher in the ghetto,” Stephen TX says in one screenshot. “The school is 40% Black, 60% Hispanic school. The school was 90% white back in the 70s. Walking down the hall by the auditorium looking at the band, choir, etc, photos year by year, it’s… it’s not fun.”
Publicly available data show Skyline High is only 1 percent white. Black students make up 25 percent of the student body while Hispanic students comprise 73 percent of the population.
Also on the chat, the user identified as Arnquist shared his 23 and Me DNA testing results, which revealed he was 99 percent European, with 0.1 percent unassigned. Most of his results were linked to British, Irish and Scandinavian ancestry.
Arnquist’s ties to the racist group follow a report that at least seven members of the U.S. armed forces are under investigation by the military for their alleged ties to Identity Evropa. Such members include an Army physician, a member of the Texas National Guard, a member of the Air Force, two Marines, and two Army ROTC cadets.
