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Standing together to fight racism

The Vancouver Jewish Community Centre recently experienced two bomb threats, one on March 8 and the other on March 12.
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The Vancouver Jewish Community Centre recently experienced two bomb threats, one on March 8 and the other on March 12. They coincide with anti-Semitic and other racist acts happening across Canada, in the United States and around the world in recent months.

Just when we thought we had advanced so far as a society, when we thought that we had put such disgraceful deeds of intolerance behind us and fully embraced and celebrated our ethnic diversity, we realize that we still have such a long way to go.

What is bitterly ironic about this particular threat is that this building also houses the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre (VHEC). There is no other institution in British Columbia that has done more to promote awareness of crimes against humanity and advance cultural understanding than they have.

When I began developing curriculum for a course in genocide studies, they were my greatest resource. They not only shared materials, they helped me to network with other teachers doing similar work and with other communities who had experienced similar atrocities.

In 2013, VHEC gave me the greatest honour of my teaching career, the Kron Segal Award for Excellence in Holocaust Education.

It did not matter to them that my paternal grandparents were immigrants from Syria, or that my maternal grandfather was in the German army in the Second World War. What they recognized was my work in educating young people and trying to build a better world.

When they met me, I was welcomed as one of their own. It was honestly just like being with family and the beginning of many great friendships.

What is true of VHEC is true of Jewish individuals, institutions and communities all over the world. Though horrendous and unimaginable crimes were committed against them during the Nazi era, they have done more than any other group to raise global awareness of the reality of genocide and raise hope that a world free of such hateful acts is possible.

From Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin coining the term and lobbying the United Nations to define the crime of genocide in 1948, to Jewish groups advocating that genocide education be mandated in public school systems, their efforts have been tireless.

It is also significant to note that we are not just discussing education regarding the Shoah.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, for example, has one of the most accessible online collections of resources for every genocide from Armenia to the Congo.

Critics often point at the state of Israel.

It is important to note, however, that some of the loudest and most persistent voices for Palestinian rights have been Jewish.

People like Noam Chomsky and Gideon Levy and groups like the Jewish Voice for Peace continue to extend their reach, both within Israel and around the world. There are also innumerable acts of kindness that take place between Israelis and Palestinians every day that are never reported in the news.

The point is that threats like those made against the Jewish Cultural Centre are made out of ignorance and with malicious intent by people who know nothing of human rights or the people who act tirelessly for the sake of others.

The way to combat these abominations is to speak truth, and to speak it persistently in a loud and unified voice.

As Holocaust survivor Lillian Nemetz recently shared with me, "In this hour of our damaged world, we sorely need people to help us heal."

Let us stand in solidarity with our Jewish sisters and brothers in their time of need as we join in their fight to not only end genocide, but to make all forms of racism a thing of the past.

Visit www.gerrychidiac.com for past columns.