The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

     About 12 years ago I had the opportunity to visit Washington D.C. while visiting a friend who lived near there.  As we were discussing places that we wanted to visit while we were there, I told him that I wanted to go to the Holocaust Museum.  He asked me if I was sure because he had been there and said it was a very difficult experience but one that was worth enduring.  Ever since I had been in high school and watched a video on what the Nazis did to the Jewish people I held a very special place in my heart for this situation.  I told my friend that it was something that I needed to do but I didn't realize just how deeply I would be moved by the oppression and prejudice I witnessed while in the museum.  This was not something that I was directly a part of but when you began the tour, they gave you a booklet with a person's name and picture on it.  During different parts of the tour we were able to read information about what had happened to the people that we were given.  We read about how they were captured and tortured for long periods of time.  The horrors that these people were put through because of someone else's prejudice is indescribable.  At the end of the tour and on the last page of your booklet you were able to read whether or not your person had made it out alive or if they had been killed in one of the many concentration camps.  I can remember crying as I read that the little girl on my card had died without any of her family with her.  In my opinion the bias and prejudice that Adolf Hitler had towards Jewish individuals is one of the most horrific forms of oppression that our world has ever seen.  During the Holocaust microassaults happened every day and they were not the unintentional kind.  They were the kind meant to physically and psychologically harm people.  This trip for me is something that will stay in my mind forever and the images that I saw while in the museum are seared into my memory forever.  It was a truly sobering experience and one that truly clarified for me the kind of person that I always want to be and that is someone who does not judge other people based on their outer appearances and characteristics.
     The ways in which this specific oppression and prejudice diminished equity is because the Jewish people living in Germany never had a chance.  They were being kidnapped, tortured, and killed because of their outer appearance and for their religious background.  There was not equality involved here at all.  The mindset was that the Germans were the greatest and the Jews were not worth the dirt that was under their feet.  The Jewish people could not go out of their homes and many had to hide away for fear of being captured or killed.  Equity for these people was diminished the very first day that Adolf Hitler came onto the scene and there was never a chance for them after that.
     Every time that I see something about the Holocaust, think about it, or talk about it in any way, I have feelings of extreme sadness and anger.  I get angry at the fact that so many people bought into the prejudice of this group of people and went along with the killings and torturing that went on.  I get angry that this was even allowed to happen to other people and that America and other countries didn't get involved sooner to try and protect these people.  Then I get extremely sad.  It makes me so sad to think about what these people went through and the feelings of unworthiness that they must have had.  I can barely stand to think about the little children who were taken away from their families and then left alone to die in cold, dark, and dirty places where they were not fed and not clothed.
                                        
     I believe that what needed to change in order for this incident to turn into an opportunity for greater equity is exactly what happened.  The person that was in charge of creating the bias, prejudice, and oppression had to be taken out of the equation.  I think that in any form of prejudice or oppression the thing that will make things change is for someone to stand up for the weak and let a voice be heard about ending the prejudice and biases that are occurring.  I don't know if there is any person who could read or learn about the Holocaust and not be moved to be someone better than they are towards other people.  Equity can only happen in our world when we give every person walking on Earth the same chance and opportunities.  It takes people willing to stand up and fight for what is right to cause change and to bring about equity for all of us.