December 18, 2020 I recently read with dismay two opinion pieces in the Heritage, both of which dealt with the “Uprooting Prejudice” exhibit at the Holocaust Memorial Research and Education Center. Pardon the pun, but the exhibit obviously got under their skin, in Rabbi Bernard Rosenberg’s case because it didn’t deal specifically with the Holocaust, and in Alan Kornman’s because, supposedly, the Black Lives Matter movement is anti-Semitic. Let’s peel these back one at a time. The mission statement of the HMREC is simple and straightforward. “We use the history and lessons of the Holocaust,” they state, “to build a just and caring community free of anti-Semitism and all forms of prejudice and bigotry.” Nowhere does it say we only teach about the Holocaust. Nowhere does it say we are limited in using the example of the Holocaust. It says that their mission is to use what we have learned from the Holocaust to, effectively, build a community and help build a world that is free of prejudice and bigotry. The HMREC helps to re-educate skinheads about hatred and prejudice. This would be an inappropriate activity, according to Rabbi Rosenberg, because it doesn’t teach about the Holocaust directly. It only deals with current Nazi-style actions and philosophies. It would also be wrong, then, for the HMREC to bring other acts of genocide to light. Forget teaching about Cambodian, Armenian, Rwandan, Bangladeshi genocides which totalled upwards of 9 million innocent souls murdered. Forget teaching about the history of slavery in the United States. And by all means turn a blind eye to bullying, current acts of anti-semitism, and the undeniable, systemic racism that has always been part of the American culture