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    Categories: 2017

Rep. Smith Speaks at Preview of Exhibit Commemorating Genocide Victims, Survivors

Targeted News Service
 Tuesday 5:04 AM EST


Rep. Smith Speaks at Preview of Exhibit Commemorating Genocide
Victims, Survivors

MONMOUTH COUNTY, N.J.

Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., issued the following news release:

Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) spoke on Sunday at the preview and
ribbon cutting of a new exhibit commemorating the victims and
survivors of three different genocides, at the Center for Holocaust,
Human Rights & Genocide Education (Chhange).

The exhibit, "Journeys Beyond Genocide: The Human Experience," is
housed on the campus of Brookdale Community College in Lincroft, NJ.
It is a dynamic exhibition featuring powerful testimonies of local
Holocaust and genocide survivors, and showcases their archival items.
Over 100 people attended the VIP preview of the exhibit, which covers
three previous genocides: the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, and
the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi people in Rwanda.

"The promise of the genocide convention remains unfulfilled," said
Smith, who in 2000 held the first-ever U.S. hearing on the Armenian
Genocide of 1915, as part of an attempt to pass a Congressional
resolution recognizing the atrocities committed against the Armenians
as a genocide. "The goals of the genocide convention of 1948 are to
prevent and punish genocide. Prevent. We have failed. We need to do
more," Smith said on Sunday.

He went on the say that, "It is my hope that exhibits such as this
will educate and hopefully sensitize more and more people, including
our young people, to realize that they have a stake in this."

The Center for Holocaust, Human Rights & Genocide Education at
Brookdale Community College was founded in 1979. It seeks to educate
students and residents in the area about the history of genocide and
human rights, and has previously hosted genocide survivors as
volunteers and as speakers.

"We do not study the past because we love old things. We study the
past because it can serve as a compass to help us understand the world
in which we live today, and to navigate our way to the world to which
we seek to give shape," Dr. Deborah Dwork, Rose Professor of Holocaust
History at Clark University and Founding Director of the Strassler
Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, stated. "Journeys Beyond
Genocide: The Human Experience is just such a compass." Dr. Dwork
helped put the exhibit together.

Included among the intimate reflections and personal items on display
at the exhibit is a quote that Smith made on April 12, 2015, at the
opening of Chhange's 100th anniversary commemorative exhibit on the
Armenian genocide.

"Genocide is the most terrible crime a people can undergo, or another
people can commit. It must never be forgotten-to forget it would be to
dull our consciences and diminish our own humanity. The campaign to
deny this [Armenian] genocide. . .keeps the Armenian genocide a
burning issue and prevents much needed healing of old wounds. . . .We
must write and speak the truth so that generations to come will not
repeat the mistakes of the past.

Only 20 Nations around the world have recognized the Armenian
Genocide. That includes Canada as well as eleven EU countries. . . .
Conspicuously absent from the list of nations that have officially
recognized the Armenian Genocide is the United States of America. . .
.When political leaders fail to lead or denounce violence, the void is
not only demoralizing to the victims but silence actually enables the
wrongdoing. . .History has taught us that silence is not an option. We
must do more."

This document was posted showing the date: Nov. 13, 2017.

Contact: Matt Hadro, 202/226-6373

Talar Tumanian:
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