On January 29, 2025, our school was able to have a representative from the Dallas Holocaust Museum come and give us a presentation of the event. The presentation took up a whole class period with some time to ask questions. It was a pretty simple presentation that had important details and facts about the entire event.
While it is a sensitive topic that many kids know, it should still be something to pay attention to. As we were sitting, listening to the presentation, we could hear people behind us hitting each other. There were about 3 girls who were going back and forth, giggling and slapping each other loudly. One of our group members got the chance to listen to the presentation a second time and said that the girls behind her were also talking non-stop. I know some people might be asking, “Why do I need to pay attention to something that has already happened?” While paying attention is a sign of respect, it also helps you understand what’s going on around you.
As of the beginning of the year, many immigrants in the United States have been terrified of what could happen to them after our president gets inaugurated. They are hiding in their houses in fear of getting found out and deported. This is quite similar to what happened to the Jews in the Holocaust. Many of them hid in other friends’ homes to avoid getting caught by officers and sent to deportation camps. While the US currently doesn’t have any deportation camps, there is news that he will be starting one soon in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. This all started with the blaming of these groups for various things. Jews were being blamed for the loss of World War 1 for Germany, and immigrants were being blamed for taking jobs away from American citizens.
A very shocking and quite obvious sign was one of a certain billionaire at the inauguration. It is extremely hard to believe that that wasn’t an obvious sign. An educated human being can see that that hand sign was extremely disrespectful and unpleasant for many groups of people. Many people tried saying, “He was just giving his heart out to people; he didn’t mean any harm.” If he were to be standing in Germany and made that hand sign, he would’ve been arrested. That sign was a symbol of hatred and evil towards people who did no wrong but simply just existed. Isabella DeLuna, senior here at Carter, shared that, “People are fearing for their lives, just for being different in their eyes.” Making that sign 80 years after that event to citizens and noncitizens should have alerted something in everyone.
These similarities are so crucial to understand. The thought that this could happen again is unthinkable and heartbreaking. We got the chance to interview Mr. Martinez about the presentation in which he stated, “People don’t fully understand how important it is to regularly remind ourselves of events like the Holocaust. It was only 80 years ago and yet it feels like ancient history to young people today. Humans are capable of creating incredible beauty as well as tremendous pain. Students at Carter and people everywhere of all ages should stop and realize how real and recent these events were and that humans are the most vulnerable to letting it happen again whenever we let our guard down and feel like it won’t. For myself and all of our students, I am so grateful for the work to ensure we don’t forget. Forgetting is the biggest danger, and we can’t afford it.” This topic relates to students today not only because it could happen again but also because we should learn when to stop it.
