The Holocaust: Religion, Race and Ethnicity Discrimination

Close your eyes and picture a world where you’re discriminated against because of your religion, race, ethnicity or beliefs. You may not realize it, but you probably pictured a world exactly like ours today in 2019. It may be harder to notice currently because society seems like it’s changing, but there are still one to many situations in the world today where people are being discriminated against. People believe that they are better than others and can be biased against and hurt those who they believe are lower than them. This is exactly the sort of prejudice and close minded behavior that started the Holocaust in 1941.

When people think about the Holocaust, they probably think of gas chambers, slavery, and killing pits, but of course it didn’t start that way. The Holocaust started with minor discriminatory laws against the jews. Examples of this includes Jewish children not being allowed to go to school, or not having the right to shop wherever they want, the right to vote, and the right to be jewish or not. Propaganda was a huge factor in helping discriminate the jews and put them down. The holocaust started slowly with just discrimination and propaganda and that happens in our world all the time, so who says another Holocaust won’t happen?

“Although not every act of bias will lead to genocide, it is important to realize that every historical instance of genocide began with acts of bias” [1]. We must not repeat history, but learn from it. Today in 2019 there is a huge discrimination problem at the US southern border. The US government is seperating children from their parents who are seeking refugee in America and are trying to get in. “Between October 1, 2017 and May 31, 2018, at least 2,700 children have been split from their parents” (""The Trump Administration’S Separation Of Families At The Border, Explained""). This shows that at least 45 children are being taken away from their parents each day. Most of the time they lie to the parents, saying they will be reunited with their children and then they get sent to jail, never seeing their children again. One border patrol officer made a joke and said: “We have an orchestra here” as children cried hysterically after being taken from their parents. This is a big problem because this is the prejudice that can become something bigger like the Holocaust.

Another example of discrimination in current events is the Unite the Right Rally. The Unite the right Rally was a white supremacist rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia in August of 2017. The rally was not only racist and prejudice but also very anti semetic with people chanting things like, “Jew will not replace us” and “blood and soil” which is a phrase taken from Nazi ideology. Men stood outside the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue, while Jewish men were praying, holding semi-automatic rifles and spoke online about how the Synagogue should be destroyed. The rally only lasted a day, with one death too many, but caused a big impact on people.

It may seem like a Holocaust would never happen again, especially from a rally or minor discrimination- but that’s how the Holocaust started itself. We need to learn from the Holocaust and stop thinking that we are better than others because of what color, religion, and race we are. People need to realize that everyone is human and deserves the respect that you would want. Things like discrimination, prejudice, and racism are all the starting causes of war and genocide. We need to make sure that our current events does not end up as a Holocaust because of Rallies and Discrimination at the US border. We need to learn from our past and accept people for who they are.

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