Keeping an Open Mind
Some of the letters (Inbox, Feb.8) in response to the thought-provoking
interview of Vladimir Teichberg '96 (A Moment With, Dec.14) included
thoughtful analyses both criticizing and supporting Teichberg's political
perspective. Alas, among the published letters there were some soiled
with Nativist bigotry and ethnic slurs referring to Teichberg's Russian
childhood. Sadly, even the benefits of a Princeton education cannot detoxify
an all-too-common, knee-jerk tendency to stereotype "the other."
I myself came to the United States at the age of 9 when my family fled
the post-Holocaust, Stalinist, and anti-Semitic currents in 1959 Poland.
My debt to Princeton — which provided me with work/study, scholarship,
and cultivated my taste for lifelong learning and listening with "the
other" — continues. Mr. Teichberg, whether one agrees or disagrees
with his political position, is owed as much of an apology for these
slurs as was Jeremy Lin for the racial slurs that masqueraded as headlines
by some sports commentators celebrating his basketball finesse.
Harold J. Bursztajn '72
Cambridge, Mass.