7A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2016
Oregon teens say it’s time to reset political rhetoric
Moving on from
name-calling
and nastiness
By JANET EASTMAN
The Oregonian
ASHLAND — Three stu-
dent leaders at Ashland High
School say the bubble they
lived in since they were babies
has burst. The presidential
campaigns delivered endless
daggers of heated rhetoric,
name-calling and nastiness.
They saw it play out on their
campus. Arguments got per-
sonal. Teachers had to shut it
down.
The student leaders worried
that the high-temperature cam-
paign talk might never cool
down.
They were concerned that
mocking people for their race,
religion or physical appearance
could be perceived as some-
thing to aspire to, “be seen as
presidential,” said Evan Moule-
doux, the school’s senior class
president.
In response, Mouledoux
and student body co-presi-
dents Amelia Zeve and Kate
Joss-Bradley wrote an open let-
ter on the day after the election
that spelled out existing school
district policies, acceptable con-
duct and the Grizzlies’ culture
that aims toward kindness and
respect for all.
The timing hit a nerve.
Oregon schools have
reported that there was a rise in
racial attacks during the election
cycle. And students responded.
Hundreds of Forest Grove
High School students left cam-
pus after someone strung a
political banner over posters
displayed for the school’s Unity
Week. The teenager owning up
to the banner later apologized.
Two students at Silverton
High School were suspended
for threatening behavior at an
Election Day rally.
While Portland Public
Schools students walked out
and held sit-ins and Sprague
High School students in Salem
had a demonstration, the Ash-
land students felt it best to col-
lect their thoughts and offer a
strongly worded letter that rein-
150 Homes for Sale
PUBLISHER'S NOTICE
forced that there was no tol-
erance for what they call hate
speech.
Widely circulated
After posting the letter,
which has been widely circu-
lated in social media, they went
to work within their school
district.
“We want the elementary
schoolkids to see leaders in the
Ashland community and in the
U.S at large as leaders who are
being positive and showing that
oppression is something you can
stand up against,” Zeve said.
She closed her store in
October.
On the high school cam-
pus, longstanding programs
against bullying and sexual
assault have been augmented.
High school students wear red
T-shirts and wristbands that say
Got Consent?
Gay students are still has-
sled, say the student leaders.
Reset the rhetoric
Made clear was that recent
regrettable acts were not only
happening on the national stage
but even in liberal-leaning Ash-
land. In June, a homeless man
shouted about the KKK while
threatening a black actress
with the Oregon Shakespeare
Festival.
In response, Black Lives
Matter signs are still visible
on yards, Shakespeare festival
members walked in the July
Fourth parade wearing Black
Lives Matter T-shirts and festi-
val management issued a state-
ment that it was not an iso-
lated incident: “The sad truth is
that people of color often feel
unwelcome and unsafe in our
beautiful town and region. It’s
time to talk about it and to take
action.”
In the summer, a downtown
Ashland bookstore owner said
she was unjustifiably seen as
racist for displaying in her front
window “Little Black Sambo,”
“The Adventures of Huckle-
berry Finn” and other books
banned for racial reasons.
They say it’s well past time
to reset the rhetoric and bet-
ter define what’s political opin-
ion versus personal attacks that
degrade someone’s race, class,
gender or sexuality, Joss-Brad-
ley said.
Speaking at the high school
office, Mouledoux, Zeve and
Joss-Bradley, all 17, said they
realize they are privileged.
“Ashland is a bubble,” Zeve
said. “It’s a predominately
white, upper-middle class, very
liberal little town right on the
edge of California.”
For this and other reasons,
they said they were shocked
this year to hear hate speech
from Ashland residents and on
national news.
“We are disgusted in general
by the way the entire political
campaigns went,” Mouledoux
said. “Still, it would have been
easier to remain neutral and not
affirm what we stand for … But
we need to stand up and say
hate speech is not right.”
Their letter, which was not
sanctioned by the school dis-
trict, high school faculty or other
students before it was posted,
has been shared on Facebook
and is causing ripples in Oregon
and beyond the state’s borders.
The letter states that all stu-
dents have the “right to be
loved, to be respected, and to
be treated equitably regardless
of background, race, ethnic-
ity, class, creed, political affil-
iation, religion, gender, sexual
and romantic identity, ability,
and physical appearance.”
It continues: “As Grizzlies,
we condemn hate speech and
bullying, and will not stand idly
by if we witness it. We call AHS
students, staff, and community
members to find the courage
to interrupt oppressive behav-
ior and to remain respectful and
loving towards all.”
230 Houses,
Unfurnished
360 Furniture & HH
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‘We are
disgusted
in general
by the way
the entire
political
campaigns
went.’
Evan Mouledoux
Ashland High School’s
senior class president
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Janet Eastman /The Oregonian
Ashland High student leaders Evan Mouledoux, center, Amelia Zeve, right, and Kate
Joss-Bradley speak openly about their privileged life and the need to stop hate speech
on campus and in their city.
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