Disgraced NOLA School Principal: I Will Fight Back
Following revelations that he had appeared on a right-wing nationalist podcast and protested the removal of Lost Cause statues while dressed in tropes popular with far right street demonstrators, the principal of New Orleans鈥� Crescent Leadership Academy was .
Crescent Leadership Academy is the City of New Orleans鈥� sole school for students who have been expelled from other schools and who by Dean鈥檚 own admission have 鈥渃hallenging behaviors.鈥�
Nicholas Dean, Crescent鈥檚 former principal was suspended after photos circulated of him standing at the May 7th Lee Circle protests alongside a Confederate Battle Flag (CBF). The event was pre-emptively dubbed the 鈥淏attle of New Orleans鈥� by far right agitators who descended upon the city spoiling for a fight. Among them were members of the League of the South (LOS), an Alabama-based Neo-Confederate group that sent a handful of members from across the southeast to participate in the pitched 鈥渂attle鈥�.
The release of a 鈥� operating under the name of Nick Andrews 鈥� by photographer Abdul Aziz led to speculation that two rings worn by Dean might reveal Nazi sympathies. One ring was erroneously described as a totenkopf or 鈥渄eath鈥檚 head.鈥� The other, clearly identifiable as an iron cross, has some muddied significance to Nazi sympathizers as well as skateboarders and motorcycle riders.
While Dean鈥檚 motives were not clearly discernible from his jewelry preferences, comments he made in the 鈥淕uerilla Radio鈥� podcast, which he appeared on during the same segment as 鈥淏ased Stickman鈥� Kyle Chapman, and in his interview with Aziz were deemed sufficiently problematic by authorities with Rite of Passage, the group that oversees the school, to remove Dean from his position.
Some of Dean鈥檚 comments referenced those calling for the removal of Confederate-themed statues. 鈥淚f these people get their way,鈥� Dean commented, 鈥淚 don't exist.鈥�
When asked by the Guerilla Radio host whether he was 鈥渁 white supremacist, or some crazy KKK member from the Confederate past?鈥� Dean offered the following response: 鈥淚 am not by my definition, absolutely not. But by others', most certainly.鈥�
Dean, for his part, has protested his suspension and subsequent firing, claiming that he simply attended the May 7th protests at Lee Circle to 鈥渨itness history.鈥�
Dean鈥檚 claim seems dubious enough given the makeshift shield he bore at the event, which he had painted with a variation of the 鈥淐ome and Take It鈥� slogan currently in vogue with many in the Patriot and Militia movements.
Subsequent posts made in a League of the South (LOS) Facebook group by someone operating under the username 鈥淣ick Andrews,鈥� the same name used by Dean in his 鈥淕uerilla Radio鈥� interview and at the May 7th protest, bolster the school authorities鈥� decision to remove Dean from his position at Crescent Leadership Academy.
In since-deleted post, 鈥淣ick Andrews鈥� calls on the group to put him in touch with Kirk Lyons, who operates the North Carolina-based Southern Legal Resource Center (SLRC). Lyons, himself no stranger to the far right movement as a former member of the Aryan Nations, has utilized the SLRC to decry what he refers to as 鈥渉eritage violations,鈥� and to halt the 鈥渆thnic cleansing of Dixie.鈥�
In another post, Andrews inquires whether there will be any LOS members attending a coming protest regarding the removal of Confederate statues in Orlando, and indicates he plans to attend.
Perhaps most alarming is a response Andrews gave on his page to a friend congratulating him and referring to him as a 鈥渢rue patriot鈥�.
鈥淚've sat on the sidelines for years. They took my career, so I will fight back. I've been warned that resistance is the hard road.鈥�
If Dean is using the same 鈥淣ick Andrews鈥� pseudonym online, the associations he has cultivated since his firing offer nothing if not ample justification for Rite of Passage鈥檚 decision to remove Dean from the staff of Crescent Leadership Academy.
