Our culture loves symbols. Symbols, which contain many meanings, allow us to communicate with each other.
Years ago, my youngest brothers played "Army," where they'd dress in camouflage and march around the neighborhood, carrying artillery of squirt guns and hockey sticks.
One day after watching "Hogan's Heroes" with a friend, they decided to parade around in uniforms carrying a homemade flag bearing a swastika. They got about two houses down the street before a neighbor noticed them, and quickly sent them home before they reached the cul-de-sac where my Jewish neighbors lived. At home, my dad gently explained the meaning of the swastika to them, and why they should not celebrate it as a positive symbol.
As little kids, my brothers probably didn't get why they shouldn't run around yelling "Heil" or why our last name Meister adds to those reasons. All they knew was, in the show, Nazis were the funny guys. That day though, they learned how one symbol contains hate.
Fast-forward ten years. I'm leaving theology, which ironically, happens to be Jewish Thought and Practice. We had just taken a test on Jewish history, including some questions on the Holocaust. I walked past Subway on 15th Street and Wells, and saw, on an orange "Employment Brochure" stand, a blue spray-paint swastika. Immediately I felt several emotions ranging from anger to sorrow. Naturally, I wondered who had painted that horrible thing. Could it be kids who didn't understand the symbol and thought it looked cool? Or, God-forbid, could be a Marquette staff member or a student?
That last thought really scared me. Could faculty members of a school that stresses appreciation of other cultures and religions show intolerance? Could the student body, all of whom are required to study ethics, history and diverse cultures, show blatant lack of their education?
This symbol has no place at Marquette. Recently, each dorm received a plaque declaring them hate-free communities. So why does this symbol of hate still appear in dorms, scratched on walls at 3 a.m?
I think it's because we try to forget what happened during World War II and turn away from the same sorts of catastrophes continuing today.
Think of the people here that Hitler considered "vermin." I don't know Jehovah's Witnesses, but I do know Jews. I have homosexual friends and relatives. Can I imagine life without them? No way. The mentally ill? They'd be gone. Eventually, I'm sure Hitler, the Ku Klux Klan and other organizations of hatred would join together and annihilate every aspect of ethnic diversity within this country.
After WWII, global leaders took steps to make sure the Holocaust would not repeat itself.
Yet we still see genocide in Darfur, Bosnia and Rwanda. Hate still continues. And we must stop it now. That all starts with symbols. I found out that others have seen the swastika in the past few days. I remember hearing about another such incident where the swastika was cleaned up by Facilities Services. Why not this? This graffiti was on "non-campus property," which raises an issue of responsibility of promoting university identity's integrity on and off campus.
However, if we intend to have a hate-free community at Marquette, I propose we take action against all symbols of hate. I'm starting with this one. Does anyone know how to remove spray paint?