אני קושית יפה/I’m a Cute Black Girl Pg 31

I had planned to have gone to the Jewish Cemetery today to remember all the Lives that perished and were lost during the Holocaust, but instead I am at work and watching the Live Stream on Facebook.

It is so easy to forget about this horrific time in our history. It happened so many years ago… 1941 – 1945…over 77 years ago. So much has happened since then, often I think how even though the torture and murder of human lives is not on the same scale as the Holocaust, us humans are still hurting our brothers and sisters, we stand by, while many perish daily.

Today Jews across the World took a moment to remember what happened and hope that as life continues, we never forget what happened 77 years ago.

But every day I am reading and hearing about lives being lost and people demonstrating hate to each other. All of this is happening just around the corner or across the ocean, from me, it is hard to think that even though a nation lives to remember and never allow generations to forget what happened, on a smaller scale the Holocaust still lives on.

Today a survivor got up to tell his story. Well, he had someone else tell his story as it was too hard for him to relive it. She read how when this survivor was just a few months old, him and his family hid only to be found, not long after, and how he grew up in orphanages and was surrounded by the war and constant fighting and violence happening outside and around him, all this noise became a constant soundtrack to his life, he now cannot handle being around any kind of fighting or violence. He was just a little baby when he lost his family…all 27 of them. He had to live his life without the love and warmth of his family; while she read this, I tried to imagine the pain he has felt…I tried to imagine all the loneliness, he has had to endure, but I just couldn’t. I thank Hashem every day for the family and love and warmth he has blessed me with. But still today so many are on their own.

It is all very well that millions of people have taken a moment today to remember those 6 million+ Jews that perished because of the evil that happened 77+ years ago, but since then how many more lives have been lost because of the evil that walks next to each of us every day?

In 77 years’, time will we still be remembering what happened 77 years ago? It scares me to even contemplate how history just may repeat itself again in 77 years’ time, if not less or maybe longer.

Well 3 years after World War II, history did repeat itself, Apartheid, it was on a smaller scale, but for 46 years Non-Whites were legally discriminated against. The law prevented them from sitting next to a white person on a bench, Non-Whites were only given certain areas to live in, they could not share public transport with a white man, they were restricted from getting degrees in many professions, only certain jobs were deemed sufficient for their race. Non-Whites had to live under the control of the White Man. I was just about 8 years old when it officially ended, but thankfully when I was born this hatred was already slowly being rescind.

We like to think that we have moved on from Racism and Anti-Semitism and Homophobia and all other forms of hatred against our neighbours, but I don’t believe that. Look what is happening in Ukraine and Russia, look what is happening in the Middle East and in Northern Africa, 9/11, Synagogue Attacks in Australia and New Zealand, Sports Games being attacked in Europe, Xenophobia, Women and Children being subjected to physical and sexual violence not just in other countries but in my own city.

Today we remembered what happened 77 years ago, but I don’t think we are being honest when we say, ‘Never Again’. So, there are no Gas Chambers but there is still is a huge divide amongst us and the world is still filled with a lot of hate.