(RNS) — In late November, in a clumsily handled policy change, the U.S. Coast Guard first changed its designation of the swastika from “hate symbol” to a “potentially divisive symbol.” Then, after an outcry, it was changed back to “hate symbol.”
This roller coaster caused anguish for many American and resident Hindus, Buddhists and Jains, for whom this is a fundamental symbol of faith and good luck. It has also again exposed the pervasive problem of failing to distinguish the sacred swastika from the Nazi Hakenkreuz.
An ancient symbol of good luck and auspiciousness, swastika-like symbols have appealed to humanity across cultures, geographies and history. Hellenic Greece, Native American tribes, India, Ethiopia, Germany, Syria, China, Southeast Asia, medieval Europe and other cultures have used the symbol, which has been known as the Whirling Log, the manji, the gammadion, the Hakenkreuz, fylfot and the swastika.
In the West, the horrors of the Holocaust and Nazi (and neo-Nazi) hate have tarnished this widely beloved symbol. But the dark history of one use of this shape should not lead us to ban all uses.
The Rev. T.K. Nakagaki, former president of the Buddhist Council of New York, has investigated the swastika’s wrongful association with the Hakenkreuz. In his book “The Buddhist Swastika and Hitler’s Cross: Rescuing a Symbol of Peace From the Forces of Hate,” he wrote: “Many in the West believe that (Adolf) Hitler invented the swastika symbol and even the word ‘swastika’ to describe it. He did not. You cannot call it a symbol of evil or (deny) other facts that have existed for hundreds of years, just because of Hitler.”
The Western press, reporting on the rise of Hitler, similarly called the symbol the Hakenkreuz. Faulty translations at the start of World War II, however, created a misunderstanding that has now ballooned to create a common misperception in parts of the world.
“Swastika” is a Sanskrit word, meaning “well-being.” The symbol, sacred to 2 billion followers of Dharmic faiths, is in this sense antithetical to Nazi hate.
It is omnipresent in Jain and Hindu temples and Buddhist monasteries and is found displayed in sacred artifacts, images, textiles and decorations in thousands of homes in the United States, and for the most benign reasons. For Navajo people, the Whirling Log symbol represents the universe and life itself, as Patricia Anne Davis, an elder of the Choctaw and Dineh nations, reminds us: “It was used by many Indigenous people and symbolizes peace, healing and goodness. We wove it into rugs, carved it into silver, painted it on our pottery. For me, it never changed meaning, and it’s time to bring it back.”
In the past couple of years, California and Virginia have both recognized the swastika’s various contexts and signed laws that make appropriate distinctions. Both states have added a reference to the Hakenkreuz into their discrimination laws, deeming it specifically as a hate symbol, while simultaneously protecting the religious freedom and rights of minority faiths.
This is the right spirit for our fast changing, multicultural world. Anyone who does business with Asia may spot a swastika on a wall behind a colleague’s head on a video call. Traveling in Japan or India or Indonesia, Westerners may spot the swastika in an advertisement campaign.
The swastika is not the only image or word that we encounter that has multiple meanings. We learn to understand, evaluate and judge based on context, intent and usage, and need to do the same for a symbol that is now tarred by an ideology that it was never part of.
In a number of religions, the swastika is a symbol of prosperity and good fortune. (Photo by Nidhi Srivastava/Flickr/Creative Commons)
Insisting on tying the swastika with Nazi hate has real-life consequences. Buddhists, Hindus and Jains living in the U.S. have often been harassed at home or faced HR investigations at work for displaying the swastika. Small businesses have been targeted, summer camps for children have been canceled, handymen have walked out of Dharmic homes, neighbors have marked them as hateful. Native American vendors selling rugs at a market have been threatened.
In the United Kingdom four years ago, a supermarket worker was dismissed after showing a colleague a swastika tattoo. In 2015 in Washington, D.C., a Jewish student was suspended for displaying a swastika he brought from a trip to India, in the hope of sparking a dialogue. More recently, in Australia, Uber banned an individual named Swastika from its ride-sharing platform.
The urgency of recognizing this change is coming from unexpected quarters. Author and art director Steven Heller once wrote books such as “The Swastika: Symbol Beyond Redemption?” Now, Heller’s understanding has evolved and he advocates for a more nuanced and contextual view, as he detailed in a 2024 blog post.
Some Jewish scholars have leaned into their faith, drawing on the lessons of tikkun olam — the Jewish spiritual mandate to help “repair the world.” They see the recognition of the swastika’s longer history as a way to ameliorate the damage inflicted by Nazi ideology and to protect innocent adherents of Dharmic faiths from bearing the sin of a crime they had no involvement in.
“As a Jewish man, I don’t want to continue and strengthen Hitler’s legacy to harm people,” Jeff Kelman, a Holocaust historian, said.
The Coast Guard has a special obligation to stand for truth and is in a unique position to disseminate correct information. Designations carry meaning and power. Which is why the Hakenkreuz needs to be classified as a “hate symbol,” not the sacred swastika.
(Pushpita Prasad is chief communications officer for the Coalition of Hindus of North America-CoHNA. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)
