Never Again for Everyone

This evening we will begin marking the annual commemoration of the Holocaust, as marked on the Jewish calendar.

On this Yom HaShoah, I stand in solidarity with the remaining survivors, including my uncle. I remember, along with others like me who are the children and grandchildren of survivors. I light a candle to my father, grandparents, great great mother, dozens of relatives, millions of kin. I am reminded today of resilience, courage, of the capacity for human cruelty and acts of defiant kindness. I think of the indifference and apathy that enables hate and keeps haunting our aspirations to be better as humans and as a society.

In 1932 Hitler’s Nazi party got 37% of the vote, in 1933 they got  44% . They never won the majority vote in the Democratic German elections. Murky political scheming allowed this white supremacist, racist, misogynistic, antisemitic, homophobic, hateful minority to take over Germany and sow destruction globally. Enacting a color codes system of oppression and annihilation. Some signed on, some were indifferent, some resisted, some were complicit, some looked away, or stood by, focusing on survival. Millions became victims. The traumas live on.

Right now, fear-fueled hateful voices resisting progress, justice, dignity and love keep sowing destruction and perpetuating patriarchal power. Just yesterday, in Israel, a publicly racist right wing leader was elected as a member of the Knesset as an increasingly nationalist government is yet again formed. In Arkansas and in Georgia an anti trans law and voting restriction laws passed despite mounting resistance. Here in New York City anti-Asian crime has risen this past year. The list goes on despite so many wins.

Never Again? So much of this is happening again. Today let’s walk the talk: Never again for Everyone. It’s on us to keep resisting. Again and again.

It’s on us to shift the paradigms and to resist. It’s on each and every one of us to commit to trying harder. It’s on us to be allies, it’s on us to persist. It’s on us to speak up, to act up, to fight daily for justice in the memory of all our loved ones, 6 million and more, whose legacy to us is the sanctity of life, dignity and equity, less fear and more love.

May memories bring blessings, to all.