Free Speech Issue

On Aug. 28, a letter was printed from Tracy Harvey of Moorpark regarding a man berating Jews and homosexuals in a restaurant and only her sister responding to him. Ms. Harvey’s letter went on to ask: What should have been done? What would the reader have done? What did the average German or Polish citizen do during the 1940s?

As wrong as it may seem, there is nothing that can be done because we are a nation of free speech, regardless of how bigoted and ill-informed anyone is. A restaurant is not the place to challenge, teach or attempt to change anyone’s interpretation of Scripture, right or wrong.

Asking what the Polish people were doing in the same sentence with the Germans is ludicrous. The Polish people have suffered persecution throughout their history. According to the World Book Encyclopedia, Poland suffered more than any other country in World War II.

What were the German and Polish people doing in the 1940s? We know what the Germans were doing. Some of the Polish people were attempting just to survive. Others went underground to fight. Some escaped to England where a Polish air force was formed. Survivors of Schindler’s list have testified many were hidden by the Polish people. Others left to countries that would take them. Millions of Polish people along with the Jews were sent to Auschwitz.

I hope Ms. Harvey would realize Jews were not the only people in concentration camps. There were people of every nationality, many simply because they were Christians, especially those that chose to hide their Jewish friends and neighbors.

JO MAUPIN

Camarillo