The American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendants is urging Congress to pass a Holocaust education bill.
The legislation would provide annual grants of $2 million a year for five yerars to educational institutions for teaching about the Holocaust and its larger lesson.
The organization notes such education is especially important at this time:
One of the Holocaust’s lessons is that In times of economic stress, majority populations tend to choose scapegoats from minorities–Jewish and otherwise–who then become targets of discrimination. In today’s economic climate, immigrants, Muslims and Jews have become the focus of hate speech and hate crimes, including murder.
The best preventative for such heinous acts is effective Holocaust and Genocide study for young people. Students learn how and why scapegoating is used and how to prevent it. In successful programs, teens learn to think critically, examine their own prejudices. and develop respect for themselves and others. The goal of these programs is to teach students to become accountable and responsible adults who work toward building tolerance and mutual understanding between all segments of American society.
The full press release is after the jump:[[READMORE]]
The American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendants, dedicated to bringing Holocaust and Genocide Studies to American classrooms, strongly urges both houses of Congress to pass the $10 million Holocaust Education bill sponsored in the Senate by Senator Robert Menendez (D) of New Jersey and in the House by Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D) of NY.
Senate bill 2651 and Congress’s H.R. 4604 would establish federal grants – $2 million a year for five years – for educational institutions to teach about the Holocaust and its larger lessons. Recent headlines have described how States have begun to cut funding for such programs, and the American Gathering believes that these bills are vital in allowing states to continue teaching this very important subject.
One of the Holocaust’s lessons is that In times of economic stress, majority populations tend to choose scapegoats from minorities–Jewish and otherwise–who then become targets of discrimination. In today’s economic climate, immigrants, Muslims and Jews have become the focus of hate speech and hate crimes, including murder.
The best preventative for such heinous acts is effective Holocaust and Genocide study for young people. Students learn how and why scapegoating is used and how to prevent it. In successful programs, teens learn to think critically, examine their own prejudices. and develop respect for themselves and others. The goal of these programs is to teach students to become accountable and responsible adults who work toward building tolerance and mutual understanding between all segments of American society.
