I am writing in response to the recent Crimson editorial “No Racism on the T” favoring the suppression, as racially discriminatory, of a provocative subway ad funded by the American Freedom Defense Initiative that reads, “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel; defeat Jihad.”

America has had magnificent success in rising above the avaricious slave trade that marred its foundation. Overtly racist endeavors, such as the quest for the “Übermensch” that led to the extermination of millions of Jews during World War II, are now unreservedly condemned. Elite universities such as Harvard take pride in the racial diversity of their student bodies and train pupils to approach foreign cultures with the utmost respect.

Elsewhere in the world, such marks of tolerance are harder to come by. Iran’s former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has publicly called for the destruction of Israel, while tens of thousands of demonstrators have been seen in Iran chanting, “Death to America!” Reports of Christians slaughtered for their faith in Syria and Egypt are now commonplace. And the history of the Palestinian territories is a long saga of two rival factions, Hamas and Fatah, seeking to wrest land both peacefully and violently from one another and the state of Israel.

In its now famous ad, the AFDI does not attack any person on the basis of ethnic heritage (this would be racism in the usual sense), national origin, or even religious faith. Instead, it takes aim at jihad—the peculiar brand of violent action on the part of certain deranged individuals and organizations, purposed toward the forcible spread of radical Islam, and directed most especially toward the United States and Israel, an all too familiar phenomenon since 9/11.

This being a university of diverse political views, some readers will inevitably take issue with my language, my logic, and even my facts. Respectful dissent is welcomed; indeed, it is through it, and not through accusations of racism, that we show the civilized nature that we as Americans and Harvard students have.

Evan M. O’Dorney ’15