ARLINGTON, Va., - To prevent future genocides from occurring around the world, Soldiers should act locally, organizers of the Day of Remembrance ceremony here at the Army National Guard Readiness Center said today.
“Realize what happened with the Jews in Germany, and others around the world, but look in your own community and see what things you can do,” said Maj. Greg Hendricks, the Army Guard’s equal opportunity and diversity officer. “One of the things we look into doing as an individual is mentorship; reaching out to somebody, teaching them the right way to do things.”
Hendricks suggested that we start by educating our children.
“There are children in this country that thirst for knowledge, and by teaching them history,” he said, “we can make them more apt and able to say O.K., we’re not going to make that mistake again.”
Dr. Greg Robinson, associate professor of history at L’Université du Québec à Montréal, was the speaker for the celebration, which had a theme of “Stories of Freedom: What you do matters.”
“Something that was brought up today was what can [people] do to prevent something like the Holocaust from happening again,” said Hendricks. “Each person has to ask themselves what can they do to stand up to atrocities, such as the Holocaust, that are going on today.”
Genocide continues today in areas around the world, such as Darfur and Rwanda.
As individuals and as a military force, there are ways to step up and take actions to prevent these and other atrocities from happening, Robinson said.
“We can pay attention to areas where the people are being persecuted and intervene in ways that make sense, such as Bosnia, where the Army (intervened),” he said.
“The more we know, the more easy it will be for us to get the courage to stand up and say that that’s not right, don’t do those things,” said Hendricks.
He added that Americans are especially suited for teaching other citizens of the world about freedom.
“The U.S. military not only fights to maintain our own freedoms, but provides freedoms for the citizens of the U.S. and people in foreign countries,” he said. “Whereever we are welcomed, we hope to spread that sense of freedom around the world.”