Black Lives Matter is a movement for justice and equality that is important to, hopefully, all of us. This movement aims to end the struggle that People of Color, specifically Black Americans, face. When you play off of this with a title like “Conservative Lives Matter,” you equate the struggle of discomfort during Harkness discussions to the systematic oppression of people of color within our country.

You do not get pulled over for driving while conservative. You are not disproportionately represented in prisons. You were not red-lined because of your political views.

The system in place is a system designed to benefit you. There is a Republican majority in Congress, and our President will represent your values more frequently than Democratic ones. Your lives do matter, but they do not require a national call to action in order to protect them.

I do not agree with the title “Conservative Lives Matter,” I want to make that abundantly clear. The title, in my opinion, was made to first grab the attention of a reader and offend them. However, I do feel that some of the points in this piece needed to be heard.

What I aim to do with this letter is to present these points in a more effective and productive way.

SPA does a bad job of listening. I do not identify as a conservative, and because of this I don’t agree with a lot of the ideas held by conservatives, but that does not mean that I block off exposure to these thoughts. The word “conservative” is stigmatized in our school, and it feels impossible here to reasonably approach a topic from such a lens.

I think frequently about a speech given by former senior Raffi Toghramadjian in which he delivered his reasons for being pro-life in the hopes of helping people understand his beliefs rather than converting people to them. I was ecstatic that somebody with an unpopular opinion spoke up in a thoughtful and productive way, and I was saddened to see that my friends did not appreciate his speech in the same way.

Most of them felt frustrated and even attacked because he had an opposing view, but his speech was not about how pro-life is the right thing to be, but rather about listening to people we disagree with to better understanding them.

As I first learned and developed an opinion on this event, Señor Castellanos reminded me, “We need to find civility within our differences.”

The writer and proofreader [of the original Opinion Board post] needs to rethink how to approach this topic. I wholeheartedly agree that conservative voices aren’t properly heard in this school, whether if it’s a big thing, such as Raffi’s speech, or little things, be it at Harkness tables or lunch tables.

SPA prides itself on being inclusive and able to communicate and I don’t see that happening here. We as a community need to do better.

I want to hear conservative views more frequently at this school, because I think civic discourse is both healthy and an important life skill. As a learner, I want to hear my views challenged, and I want to be able to challenge others’ views.

It is disappointing to me that there is seemingly no diversity of thought within our school without attack. I want to hear these arguments and I want to personalize them to my peers.

I want to know what conservatives look like, and that’s not something that is shown unless it’s in extremes.

These extremes, as seen recently, do nothing but hurt our community and poorly represent ourselves.

I want this article to serve as a starting place. Currently, we reflect the polarization within our society. When you post something [on the Opinion Board] with a thoughtful opinion but preface it with an offensive and ignorant title, you lose credibility. This post was not taken down because it represented conservative values, but rather because it trivialized genuine struggle within our country.

To the author: I encourage you to post something again. I, for one, would like to hear more about what you have to say. However, it is important to understand the power behind your words and the implication a title like “Conservative Lives Matter” has.

To SPA: we need to do a better job of tolerating and listening to controversial views. We should emulate America’s greatest potential, not mimic the current dysfunction we see in our political system. I know we can get there.

— Ethan Asis, junior

Editor’s Note: The ongoing notes on the Opinion Board about the original post, which has been removed, provide valuable feedback. This letter was submitted to broaden the conversation about ideologies and not exclusively as a reply to the post, which is one of many reasons we’ve chosen to publish it.

This post was originally published Dec. 12 in The Rubicon.