Woke Feelings Are More Important Than 900 Children

The offending tiles (Palo Alto Online)

Summer camp for 900 kids was cancelled because staffers quit over two tile swastikas that are at least 109 years old. [bold added]

the resignations are linked to three tiles built into the home of the farm’s founders in 1929. Two of the tiles include a stylized version of a swastika. The 12-inch by 12-inch tiles, the letter said, were bought by Frank and Josephine Duveneck while traveling through Asia on their honeymoon in 1913.

According to the letter, the tiles bear Buddhist swastikas and a lotus and are embedded into the wall of the historic Duveneck house on the property. The swastika, believed to be more than 7,000 years old, was a sacred symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Odinism long before it was adopted as an emblem for the Nazis in 1920, according to the Holocaust Encyclopedia.

It's easy to take shots at the young staffers, who prioritize their feelings over the welfare of hundreds of children. This woke generation doesn't bother to look outside its bubble at other cultures or even try to understand historical contexts, accusations by the way which they freely level at the so-called dominant white culture.

We'll just close by looking at the couple who built Hidden Villa.

Born into Boston aristocracy, both Josephine Whitney and Frank Duveneck came to California to escape their "overbearing families." They bought a thousand acres ("Hidden Villa") in what is now Los Altos Hills and finished their house in 1930.

From the beginning of the Great Depression the Duvenecks opened Hidden Villa to minorities and the disadvantaged:

Hidden Villa became a center for social, educational, environmental, and humanitarian activities. It summer it was a youth camp, to which the Duvenecks brought minority and disadvantaged children, and minority counselors, which given the mostly white demographics of the San Francisco Peninsula, was particularly unusual and innovative.

It had the first youth hostel on the Pacific Slope. World War II refugees and Japanese-American victims of the World War II "relocation" - internment - were released to Hidden Villa. Gatherings included church outings, interracial parties, and fundraisings. Minority groups were welcome. The hostel accommodated a Moslem group which met to instruct children in Moslem faith and rituals. Native Americans met for dancing and feasts.

In the late 1950's Hidden Villa Camp was incorporated as a non-profit. Hidden Villa charged fees, but they were reasonable, although the Duvenecks generally paid the taxes, utilities, maintenance, and capital improvement costs.

The Duvenecks would undoubtedly weep if they knew that the Buddhist tile that symbolized the importance of Asian culture to them would cause such upset in the lives of hundreds of children this summer.