BY AILYA VAJID and MEENA ELANCHENNY

In print | Published September 4, 2008

If you have never been singled out based on your race or ethnicity, consider yourself lucky. Having been on the receiving end of racial attacks before, I can attest to the sinking feeling of exclusion and inadequacy that these slurs produce. In a country that prides itself on multiculturalism, hate crimes are still alarmingly frequent. And although Swarthmore has been largely free of these occurrences, racial tensions still linger on our isolated campus. Case in point, on the morning of the first day of classes, a student awoke to find “FUCK PALESTINE” written on his door. When the student left a note asking to discuss the issue later that day, he received a vulgar response. The victim has been actively involved in initiating a new student organization, Students for a Free Palestine. The student asserts that such hateful attacks only further motivate him to continue the fight for the Palestinian cause.

After the initial shock of hearing about such a disgusting act in our tolerant haven of Swarthmore, I began to recall all those too quickly forgotten moments of the past few years: the rolling of eyes during discussions of race, the bigoted speakers invited to campus and the sense of fear among students to address racial and ethnic issues outside of a closed group of friends. What frightens me about this crime is its very nature: that a political statement, in this case a “Free Palestine” sign on a door, could result in such blunt and malicious political and racial attacks. But even more unnerving has been our response, or lack thereof, to this and other incidents in the past. In a community that teaches us diversity and mutual understanding from the first moment we step on campus, it is unacceptable that these crude events go almost unnoticed. By ignoring them, we are both condoning such acts and accepting the underlying racial and ethnic tension that bubbles beneath the surface at Swarthmore.

Most disturbing about this particular attack is that it targeted a specific individual who, even after the incident, did not express rage or sadness, but rather a desire to understand the reasons behind the actions and to discuss the issue at hand — Palestine. A few years ago, I could never have imagined such hatred to be possible on a campus that prizes equality and understanding.

Today, however, it seems that this is not the case. Perhaps the incident on September 1 will fade into a distant memory in the near future, but I can guarantee that the hatred that spurred it on will not.

We at Swarthmore cannot let attacks against Palestine or any other race, ethnicity, or nation be swept under the carpet. By opening the door to discussion about more sensitive racial, political and ethnic issues, we can reach out to those who express hostility through their hatred and ignorance. In fact, this is exactly the goal of Students for a Free Palestine, the organization co-founded by the student victim: to educate the campus on the history and rights of the Palestinian people. Perhaps then the next time a person is targeted due to his race or ethnicity, he will not be standing alone, inadequate and excluded, but with an army of Swatties of every background and ideology rooted firmly behind him.

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