Oppression is intolerable, even in opera | Letter

Published 12:48 pm Tuesday, November 29, 2011

As we stand in the midst of uncertainty in the year 20ll, what in our lives do we know for sure? What can we hold, and name, and know with  certainty that is stable and secure?

The one thing that I know for sure, is that oppression is intolerable.  It is always right and good and necessary to raise our voices with a unified and resounding “no” to anti-Semitism, prejudice, and racism.

I recently attended the live streaming at the Orcas Center of the New York Metropolitan Opera’s performance of Wagner’s “Siegfried.” I found the anti-Semitism expressed by Wagner in this opera to be offensive. The vivid cruelty and hatred for a people and their culture was made real through this very fine performance by the Met.

I take the horrors of the holocaust personally.  Holocaust: from the Greek word, holokaustos: holos, whole and kaustos, burnt.  A friend of mine escaped from Nazi-Germany on one of the last boats to leave Europe for America in 1938.  He lost his extended family in the holocaust.  We all lost six million brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles in the holocaust. Oppression is intolerable, even when expressed in an opera which premiered in Germany in 1876 and then performed again in New York and Eastsound in 2011.

I know a deeper resolve through the experience of this performance to  stand firm and to stand strong against anti-Semitism.  Oppression of our brothers and sisters anywhere through whatever means of expression is harmful and personal.  It diminishes our humanity.  It leads to the disintegration of our communities everywhere. For this reason we must always notice it and name it.

We must know with certainty that our lives shall never be at risk when we stand against hatred and oppression!

Zona McKenzie

Orcas Island