Student lauds President Dye

To the Editors:

I thank Nancy Dye and Peter Goldsmith for acknowledging that the recent explosion of extreme anti-Zionist messages is extremely hurtful to members of the Oberlin community.
There is a difference between controversial anonymous statements and hostile anonymous statements. The statement Zionism = Racism is not only controversial and unpopular but hostile and marginalizing. By singling out the Jewish movement for self-determination as racist, it denies the validity of a Jewish culture and heritage. It is impossible to identify all of the misinformation, ignorance, and ill-founded assumptions behind the statement Zionism=Racism in one quick and attractive counter statement. Those attacked by this message have been pushed out of the dialogue and are forced to carry with them the anger, frustration and pain that this statement has caused.
I implore the members of the Oberlin community to recognize what is at stake here. Words like racism and genocide cannot be thrown around for the sole sake of creating “unpopular” and “stimulating” messages. The result is oversimplification, hostility, pain and shame. The message Zionism=Racism is a misplaced accusation that does not recognize and amend oppression but instead it in itself creates a reality of intimidation and oppression. I do not want dialogue to stop. As a person who is deeply concerned about justice, I demand that my peers understand the seriousness of these terms and honestly examine them in a structure that does not create the marginalization and intimidation that it purports to identify and amend.

—Aviva Richman
College first-year