 |
| Demonstrators carry Confederate and Nazi flags during the "Unite the Right" free speech rally at Emancipation Park in Charlottesville, Va. on August 12, 2017. |
However appalling, the shameful actions of Nazi sympathizers that night were taken without knowing the full extent of the Third Reich's genocidal agenda. One can only hope that those who waved the swastika at Christie Pits in 1933 hung their heads in disgrace as, in 1945, news emerged from the death camps of Europe.
Not one of the neo-Nazis and white supremacists gathered at Charlottesville can make the same claim to ignorance. The several hundred chanting "Jews will not replace us" in the obscene torch-lit parade at the University of Virginia — without masks and in full view of the media — have openly embraced an ideology they know calls for the murder of Jews. Among the millions who have since viewed this disturbing rally online are countless Jews, many whose parents and grandparents bear the emotional scars and numbered tattoos that testify to the dangers of Nazism.
In Jewish tradition, there is a concept of "descent for the sake of ascent." There are times in our lives — and in the life of a society — marked by painful challenge. But such moments of descent can awaken within us the courage and determination we need to rise again and overcome barriers. (more...)
So the Archdiocese of Toronto has signed a declaration of solidaity against hate. Can it acknowledge and disentangle itself from Toronto's Nazi ratline, and cleanse itself from the dirty money that flowed from it? Effective action against hate will have to address the corruption at its heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment