Lest We Forget … or Have We Forgotten Already?

Executive Director of PhillyGayCalendar

Last year I had the privilege of interviewing a young man who is well-known in our Gayborhood and beyond. Jeffrey Beaver candidly shared his experience with us working with The National Holocaust Museum and gave us great insight into one of the most horrific periods in our history and in our current world. Millions of our brothers and sisters were tortured and murdered at the hands of Hitler and the Nazis while the rest of the world appeared to sit idilely by. Images of those mass graves and recollections by the concentration camp survivors are still to this very day the most chilling and haunting reminders of humanity at its worse.

Recently I was stunned into utter disbelief and disgust when I heard about a situation in the news where allegedly a group of Russian nationalists in the Ukraine had issued a demand to all Jewish citizens to register their names, addresses and to pay a special tax! At that very moment I was sickened as shades of the past ran rampant in my head. My mind could not fathom all the implications. This couldn’t be happening again!

My first thought was that I needed to seek out the truth and there was only one person who I knew could shed light on the subject. Seeing Jeffrey soon after I needed only to ask one question and shortly after was born the following open letter to all of us. Jeffery prefaced this letter to me saying that what he is sharing here “came from somewhere outside him and just flowed”. What that “something” is can easily be defined once you take a read… its pure and simple ..PASSION! Its one man with a heart so big and so passionate for the world, that speaks activism at its finest! I am in awe of Jeff and so proud he is allowing me to share his call to action! We are all called….we just need to listen and get involved. Sometimes, just sometimes, we must join together to prevent history from repeating itself!

An Open Letter – By Jeffrey Beaver

To whom it may concern, and this does in fact concern everyone, Just last year I was interviewed by Dan Mangini for a Philly Gay Calendar article about my internship at the United States Holocaust Memorial and Museum in Washington DC, and my studies of the Holocaust and genocide, very dark subjects that have opened my eyes to life’s darker history, and realities.My focus at that time was to share my experiences , and hopefully inspire others to educate themselves on those subjects. A year later there is news coming from Ukraine that Russian nationalists are distributing pamphlets to Jewish residents demanding that they register their names, addresses, and pay a $50 tax in much the same way the Nazis did in 1938, the precursor to the Holocaust. This news immediately threw me into a panic! Could this possibly be happening again? In 2014?

Recent History…

I started thinking about the crisis happening right now in Syria… What continues to happen in Burma/Myanmar, Sri Lanka in 2009, Darfur in 2003, Srebrenica in 1995, Rwanda in 1994…Sadly, the list goes on and on I realize… yes, yes, this could really be happening…even in 2014.

Propaganda?

You may have heard that there was never any such pamphlets being distributed in Ukraine and it was all just a fabrication. If it was a fabrication then why did the United States Secretary of State John Kerry comment about the pamphlets to reporters by saying “In the year 2014, after all of the miles traveled and all of the journey of history, this is not just intolerable, it’s grotesque. It is beyond unacceptable” ? Like Holocaust revisionists, there will always be somebody claiming such reports are untrue or fabricated in an attempt to change history, public perception and/or distract away from the morbid reality. Whether this story is true or not, you should never allow the media to decide for you. Always ask questions, and more importantly, always seek out the truth.

Have We Changed At All?

How much has the world really changed in the 70 years since the end of World War III? Technology, science, medicine, and almost every other area of our existence has advanced light years from where they were 70 years ago, but have people really changed all that much? I would love to believe we have, but looking back over our most recent history, I’m not so sure we’ve changed at all. We are overwhelmed with news, and gossip, and by the time any of these human rights violations land in our news feed they somehow become minimized and relegated to an abbreviated headline that almost never puts any emphasis on just how severe the problem really is…people are dying and nobody seems to care…if anybody does care then why isn’t anybody talking about it? Is anybody even paying attention?? It is just as important now as it has ever been to confront even the smallest human rights violations. We are all of cut from the same cloth. No matter where in the world we live, our country of origins, the color of our skin, our sexuality, or any other superficial difference we may have, we are all human beings, equally important, and we all have a God given right to live our lives freely, and without fear of persecution. I was shocked and dismayed to learn that Antisemitism is intensifying worldwide! 70 Years of progress, and we’re still somehow living in the stone age!

History Does Repeat Itself…

It is a little know fact that prior to Adolf Hitler taking power of Germany in 1932, there was a thriving gay and lesbian community. The 1920’s in Germany saw a growing acceptance of gays and lesbians, but all of that would change in 1933 with Paragraph 175, the new law that made homosexuality illegal, and any person found guilty of it was sent to concentration camps…Often to their deaths. Do you see a pattern here? Hate is hate! It’s happening right now to Jewish people in Ukraine, it’s also happening to the LGBT community throughout Russia, and we are all responsible to confront hate no matter where it happens, or who it happens to.

Marius Was Murdered!

This past February a zoo in Copenhagen, Denmark euthanized a healthy 18 month old giraffe named Marius because his genes too closely matched the genes of the other giraffes at the zoo. He was deemed useless to the zoo’s breeding program, (reminiscent of the eugenics program in Nazi Germany that deemed any person with physical or mental disabilities as unfit for life, and subsequently murdered) Instead of placing Marius with another zoo, or setting him free, they killed him! I spent the month prior to his death writing letters to the zoo begging them to reconsider. I reached out to almost every animal protection agency asking for help, but the Copenhagen Zoo killed him anyway. I was heartbroken about it…I’m still heartbroken about it. It was such a waste of life, and for no good reason. I lost my faith in humanity that day, but only for a few minutes… I later learned that many zoo’s from around the world have since changed their policies, and pledged against euthanizing their animals as a result of the global outcry over the murder of Marius by the Copenhagen Zoo. It reaffirmed my belief that what we do matters. We can make a difference! If we can do this for a giraffe in Denmark, we can do it for people all around the world!

IS ANYBODY LISTENING???

History has shown time and again what happens when people do nothing to help those whose rights are being violated. 12 million people are killed here, 6 Million there, 100,000 over there, and the numbers just keep adding up! How many people have to die before it’s enough for anybody to care?? If your life or rights were in danger, wouldn’t you want someone to take action to help you?

What Can You Do?

Confront hate and discrimination anytime you see it. Write letters, make phone calls, share news about hate and discrimination with your Facebook, Twitter and other online friends. Sign up for news alerts from Amnesty International & The Human Rights Watch. Start a conversation! Discuss these issues with family and friends. Do something, do anything, but please don’t be the person that does nothing at all.

“Even the least among you can do all that I have done, and greater things” (John, 14:12)

Sincerely,

Jeffrey Beaver – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . April, 25th, 2014

A prisoner in Auschwitz during the holocaust asked: “Where is God? No God would allow his people to suffer this way” to which a fellow prisoner replied “Where is Man?”

Additional information & Links:
*More About Anti-Semetism:
*More about Propaganda:
*More About Eugenics:
*More About Marius:
*Amnesty International:
*Human Rights Watch:
*It Gets Better:
*Anti-Defamation League:
*Human Rights Campaign:
*American Civil Liberties Union:
*People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals:
*The United States Holocaust Memorial & Museum:

About Jeffrey Beaver:
Born & Raised in Pennsylvania.
Bartender at ICandy Nightclub, Philadelphia.
Formally Award winning Realtor with Weichert Realtors, Kennett Square 2005-2010.
Worked for Congressman Joe Sestak, Media, Pennsylvania 2006-2007
Worked on the Hilary Clinton for president Campaign 2007-2008
Associates Degree in Behavioral Science. (DCCC)
Studying Holocaust & Genocide 2011-Present
Jeffrey Beaver Facebook: www.facebook.com/jeffreydbeaver
Jeffrey Beaver Twitter: www.twitter.com/jeffreybeaver

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