I love the Santa Ynez Valley. I love its rolling hills, the friendliness of the people and the care I have seen neighbors extend to neighbors. That is why recent events at Santa Ynez Valley High School saddened me.
In the early part of December, graffiti defaced several locations around the high school campus. Graffiti defacing a school building is never pleasant. Yet this graffiti was particularly ugly. A swastika was among the words and symbols used.
There is no way to express the horrific power of the swastika. It was the symbol of the Nazi party, displayed on its flags, uniforms and communications in Germany as Nazis systematically wiped out 6 million European Jews — as well as thousands of Gypsies, homosexuals and disabled people. So, seeing a swastika painted on our local high school means nothing short of seeing a sign of the highest form of hatred and bigotry.
But here’s the bigger problem.
Not many people got to see this symbol. Not many people got to process the fact that bigotry exists in our bucolic valley. No one got to use this event as a teachable moment for the student body. Why?
Because the graffiti was immediately painted over. Had it not been for some early morning joggers who observed and photographed the event, you and I would not have known it had been there. No statement was made to the students or community.
I have never known a problem to get better by being ignored or painted over. Whether it be sexual abuse or hatred or bigotry, ignoring or covering up a problem just doesn’t work. The problem festers and, unfortunately, is allowed to be passed on to the next generation.
The Jewish community met to celebrate its usual Friday night Sabbath service. And, in a healthy display of openness, each person was invited by Rabbi Postrel to talk about their feelings about prejudice and persecution. There were a variety of experiences shared.
Some people said they had never personally experienced persecution because of being part of a minority religion. Others, having grown up right here in the Santa Ynez Valley, talked about memories of being bullied for their religion 50 or 60 years back. But the Holocaust was present for everyone in the room. Some had lost relatives in the concentration camps, others gratefully remembered their grandparents who managed to get out of Germany before they were rounded up and sent to camps.
This sharing of stories was sad, but brought the Jewish community closer together.
And, being an active, but small community, we decided to take action. The most important action that the Jewish Community wants to take is education.
It is possible that now, over 70 years after the end of World War II, people are forgetting what happened when prejudice and fear of others different than oneself, took over. Fewer and fewer survivors of the Holocaust are alive now to tell their story. But there are still some.
Beyond just teaching the "three R's" – reading, writing and arithmetic – Santa Ynez Valley High School needs to share with students what the swastika really means.
It can do so with visits by Holocaust survivors, or wonderful teaching aides available through the various Holocaust museums and the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. Members of the Jewish community are hard at work investigating such educational options
I started out writing about why I love this community. And, despite the events described above, there are many reasons to give me hope.
I remember a year ago when the Jewish Community held a candlelight vigil in Solvang Park to remember the people slaughtered at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. Joining Jewish people at the vigil, were Father Randall Day and Pastor Chris Brown as well as members of their respective churches.
Danish Museum, the Elverhoj, will be hosting an exhibit beginning Feb. 2020, on Rembrandt, the Danes and the Jews.
I say there is hope when neighbors of different faiths and colors and sexual orientation look after each other. The answer is not in white-washing our problems, but through honest dialogue and education.