Diversity Facts: May 2005

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The month of April marked the 11th anniversary of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide and May 5, 2005, was Yom HaShoah, or the Holocaust Remembrance Day. What's frightening about these two events is that six million individuals were persecuted and murdered from 1933-1945 and 49 years later nearly one million were killed within the span of one hundred short days.

What many people do not realize is that "man's inhumanity to man" is nothing new and has taken place since the beginning of time. The occurrences mentioned above were not the first of their kind. In each event so many people were massacred because no one intervened. Unfortunately, history is bound to repeat itself if the hearts of man do not change. For instance, during the Rwandan slaughter, the United Nations and the United States, both powerful entities, spent weeks utilizing euphemisms other than genocide to explain what was happening on the African continent. Even after the slaughter was deemed to be genocide no one intervened.

"We must never forget. The road to Auschwitz was built by hate, but paved with indifference." Ian Kershaw

Yom HaShoah is the day designated to reflect upon the systematic annihilation of Jews who perished mainly in the Nazi death camps. Adolf Hitler regarded the Jews to be enemies of the state and hence they were no longer considered to be German citizens. Approximately one million children were killed during the Holocaust. Before the end of World War II six million Jews and five million non-Jews were killed in the genocide that the Nazi's called the "Final Solution." Unfortunately, there are very few survivors remaining to communicate their story, but the link provided below will allow you to hear pre-recorded testimonials.

Below you will find Web sites for additional information about these and other genocides:

• http://www.factmonster.com/spot/rememberance1.html
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/evil/etc/slaughter.html
• http://ww.religioustolerance.org/genocide2.htm
• http://www.ushmm.org/
• http://www.ushmm.org/conscience/alert/darfur/

The genocides did not stop in 1994, Humans continue to be killed each day in the Sudan. There are two questions that we must ask ourselves why do "we" allow this to occur over and over, and what are we willing to do about it?

"We must be the change we wish to see in others." Mahatma Ghandi

Did you know?

SCC's Heathrow Center has 1,900 sq. ft. of available meeting space.