How sad and disturbing it is to read how bigotry and hate reared its ugly head in Port Washington. The swastika on the wall of the boy’s bathroom at Schreiber High School is a despicable act beyond comprehension. As reported, the PW School District and appropriate law enforcement agencies taking the necessary investigative steps is most commendable. However, that isn’t where it should stop. The questions which such an investigation should ask is why? Was it an act of anti-Semitism, and if so, how did the perpetrator come to express his anti-Semitism? Did he hear it at home, from friends, literature, etc….? Did the perpetrator realize/know the significance of that symbol under which the Nazis murdered six million Jews, solely because they were Jews? These questions and other related ones cry out to be asked, and whose answers might give society a clue what prompts these acts of hate so that provocative steps can be taken to prevent them from happening again. Education about the Holocaust and other genocides being one such step.
What about some sort of “punishment to fit the crime?” Absolutely! A few suggestions: A mandated visit to one of the many Holocaust museums; a mandated attendance to testimony given by a survivor; a mandated essay on the Holocaust, to include impressions of the museum visit and survivor testimony. Suffice it to say that whoever committed this act should not go scot-free and unaccountable!
Too often we read as an aftermath to such an incident that it was an “innocent thoughtless prank.” No, my friends, displaying a swastika is no mere prank. It is wanton hate and bigotry! It should be treated as such! It should also not be subjected to being couched by the First Amendment., i.e. free speech. It is safe to postulate that our Founding fathers did not intend for this amendment to protect acts of hate and bigotry. Justifying, therefore, such a despicable act as “freedom of expression” desecrates the memory of the six million. The swastika speaks for their murder. Society must speak for them!
—Stanley Ronell
