Editor,
With all this hype about terrorism, you think it would be easy to recognize it in your own backyard, but Athens doesn't seem to be taking the events of last weekend very seriously. At 2 a.m., after returning from the March for Women's Lives in Washington, D.C., six activists found their cars with slashed tires in the Planned Parenthood parking lot. As trivial as tires may seem, there is something much larger, and dangerous, at work here.
As one of the victims, I returned from Washington, where I had marched with over a million like-minded people in broad daylight to stand up for my reproductive rights, only to find that someone who opposed my personal beliefs slashed two of my tires in the middle of the night. I kept trying to figure out what my car has to do with my stance on birth control, family planning and abortion -but it doesn't. My car was attacked to invoke fear and frustration.
Slashing our tires is not going to change any of our views. Because of the march, I now know I belong to the majority of Americans that believe in the freedom of reproductive choice. Athens is a supportive community, trying hard to foster diversity, and I want the community to be aware and alarmed by the intolerance we experienced, but not afraid. Fear will lead us nowhere, but positive activism may prevent this intimidation from escalating.
-Ashley Feyedelem
af313201@ohio.edu
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Letter to the Editor
