The perspectives and opinions printed in this Letter to the Editor are the views of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the positions of Portland State Vanguard or its editorial staff.
Dear editor:
There has been much in the news lately about both pro-Palestinian and/or pro-Israeli statements by college students resulting in 1950’s era-type blacklisting of various kinds, which I see as a bad sign of our times.
I recall being a Portland State student in 1969 organizing peaceful Vietnam War protest marches and my parents fearing it could cost me future employment opportunities. Luckily for me, in the series of events during the 1970s, including Watergate, [Richard] Nixon being driven from office for his crimes, and the instant collapse of the U.S.-backed regime in South Vietnam, had most people agreeing by 1975 that war protesters like me had been right all along.
I think we need to allow the young people of today to express their political beliefs freely, as my generation did years ago, as long as ethnic slurs and advocating violence are not part of it.
Sincerely,
Doug Weiskopf
