Editor’s note: Last week’s story on Hidden Villa’s decision to cancel its summer camps due to the resignations of key personnel touched off swift reaction from former Hidden Villa campers and others, mostly criticizing staff who were offended by swastikas at the Duveneck House. A sample of letters follows.
Hidden Villa misses out on teaching moment
As an alumnus of Hidden Villa, both as an African-American camper and summer camp counselor in the 1960s and 1970s, I think it is sad that we have reached the point where we can’t distinguish between the ancient meaning of a symbol and modern use of the symbol by racists and tyrants.
I remember the support for social justice that the Duvenecks exhibited in the 1960s and 1970s. The camp staff was always racially integrated along with campers attending the camp. We sang folk songs together, rode horses, played capture the flag and hiked the numerous trails.
I feel truly sorry for the children who will miss out on this experience because adults were unable to use the ancient Hindu swastika as a teaching moment to disarm fears and build trust among staff, campers and parents.
Christopher Fleming
San Leandro
Return swastikas to rightful owners
I remember Josephine Duveneck, I’ve read her book and once had lunch with Frank. I often camped on their property. They were the most generous, broad-minded people imaginable, sponsoring the first youth hostel on the West Coast.
Like the swastika, Old Glory represents both good and bad. Seeing evil-doers wrap it around arms sales and military and economic aggression, we could agitate to ban it from classrooms. But instead of surrendering it to bad actors, we should take it back, ensuring that it represents primarily the forces for good. We should return swastikas to their rightful owners.
Apparently, Hidden Villa’s current crop of camp counselors, despite good intentions, are currently unqualified to lead youth to become thoughtful, engaging and effective citizens.
Stephan Bianchi
Santa Cruz
Hidden Villa swastikas: Meaning, usage matter
To the hundreds of millions of followers of Dharmic religions like myself, this controversy is yet another painful reminder of the false association of the swastika.
I am horrified when I think about the Nazi Hakenkreuz and the unspeakable acts done to the Jewish people and other minority communities throughout Europe in the 1940s. But the swastika is not the Hakenkreuz. It has a history of over 4,000 years as a symbol of peace and prosperity for the Dharmic religions before it was wrongly associated with the Nazi emblem.
In fact, on May 26, the California State Assembly unanimously passed Assembly Bill 2282 to amend Section 11411 of the California Penal Code by decriminalizing “the placement or display of the ancient swastika symbols that are associated with Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism and are symbols of peace.”
The statement by Hidden Villa after the resignations said, “We are committed to creating an environment where all feel seen, welcome, and heard.” Yet, the “all” in the statement isn’t necessarily inclusive. What about the many followers of Dharmic religions in California?
I don’t believe that the removal of the swastikas was the right thing to do. As a religious symbol, there is a clear difference between the Dharmic swastika and the Nazi Hakenkreuz in both its meaning and usage. The Duvenecks, who were committed to principles of social justice, knew this difference and chose to keep these tiles on their home even after World War II.
By quitting in spite of being told the history of the tiles and the meaning of the swastika throughout Asia and the Dharmic diaspora, the staffers missed an opportunity to model what it is to be open-minded and engage in meaningful, inclusive discussion – a lesson the hundreds of children now deprived of summer camp would have immensely benefited from.
Keshav Shah
Los Altos
Decision to remove tiles ‘shameful’
The Hidden Villa board should be ashamed of its decision to remove the beautiful Asian tiles lovingly installed in Hidden Villa by Josephine and Frank Duveneck, the people who made Hidden Villa possible. Among the most progressive of their era, the Duvenecks did nothing to deserve this affront; quite the opposite. Their history of pacifism, racial progressivism and social action is available online from the Los Altos Hills Historical Society.
Board members should acquaint themselves with the Duvenecks’ history, and the history of Asian art, and immediately reverse their shameful desecration by replacing the tiles. Josephine and Frank deserve nothing less.
Rory Van Tuyl
Los Altos
Media outlets profit from mass violence
Mass violence is a copycat crime. The insane perpetrators are inspired to shoot children, put razor blades in Halloween candy, blow up airplanes and buildings or add poison to over-the-counter medications by the publicity such crimes receive.
Newspapers and TV make money reporting these atrocities. Does freedom of the press mean the media can profit by putting lives in danger?
The media are not responsible for the actions of insane people. They are totally responsible for profiting from the publicity they give to these people.
Leelane Hines
Los Altos
