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> Without
> seeing your entry or having a full explanation of what it had on it, we
> couldn’t make a full decision on the matter.

I gave you my URL – http://www.hybridelephant.com/ – which has pictures and an explanation of what I was going to present when I spoke with you on the phone, several days before the parade. All you had to do was look at that web site to get all the information you needed.

Not only did you apparently not look at my web site, but you said you would call me back the next day, and you didn’t. How was I to know that I would not be accepted under those circumstances?

> I understand that you mean no harm, and want to put a
> positive outlook on the symbol, but one of my committee members saw the
> symbol, in fact it was a person you spoke of in the email and thought they
> were not upset by it….they actually were VERY offended by it.

That kind of person is exactly why I originally created the car to begin with. If they don’t see that the swastika has meanings beyond what they assume, then how are they ever to learn that originally it meant exactly the opposite of what they think?

I wasn’t even given the chance to tell them that they were wrong.

> We live in
> a small community and this is a family event.

Your small community apparently has a number of families from India living in it as well, and many more people who are not from India. They were not offended at all, but understand that the swastika has more than the sinister meaning that it has obtained relatively recently.

Why should the misguided opinions of one person, who doesn’t understand, take precedence over a majority of the community who do? Why is it not preferable to educate those who don’t understand, than it is to eject me from the parade because of a few people who don’t understand?

> I understand you feel the
> Falon Gong Association is being positively recognized and you are being
> singled out. That is not the case, they actually concealed the symbol for
> the parade, and had a booth at the parade to fully explain their beliefs,
> organization, and representation of the symbol. You had one card with you.

I have postcards – http://pics.livejournal.com/przxqgl/pic/000rcfc2- which I handed out to everybody who was interested…

… AFTER the parade was over, and outside of the actual festival.

Which meant that relatively few people actually saw the car, compared to how many would have seen it if I had been allowed to be in the parade.

> I sincerely believe you mean no harm
> and the symbol is a positive symbol to you, but to others it’s offensive.

It’s only offensive to those who don’t understand. Those people need educating, not coddling.

It is offensive to me that I should be labled something which I clearly am not, by people who refuse to see anything other than their narrowminded opinions, and ejected from your parade without even getting the chance to explain myself to the community. You seem to have no problem in offending me.