Now, remembering the Holocaust is racist. Not against Jews, but rather, black people.
That’s the opinion of Birmingham, Alabama city councilwoman Sheila Tyson.
Alabama Today reports on the idea under consideration:
The proposed Holocaust memorial could go in a garden space on 19th Street at 3rd Avenue North. The city was asking council to move $45,500 from youth services to help clear the lot. The Birmingham Holocaust Education Center (BHEC) raised private funds to build the memorial.
Tyson immediately objected, likely because she’s still incensed the city rejected her idea to give money to an historically black cemetery that had fallen into disrepair.
Councilwoman Sheila Tyson on a potential Holocaust memorial in Birmingham: ‘Dead is dead.’
Posted by The Birmingham News on Wednesday, June 22, 2016
“Dead is dead,” she said.
“Isn’t it still for dead people,” Tyson said, according to The Birmingham News. “It is for dead people. Aren’t the people they are memorializing deceased?”
She demanded to know the difference between the cemetery and the proposed memorial.
“I’m not sure I have the vocabulary or explanatory power to indicate the distinction although it’s clear to me from a legal standpoint that there is a distinction,” city lawyer Thomas Bentley responded.
“What’s the difference,” Tyson said. “I see the difference. I know the difference but I will leave it right there.”
The council tabled the idea for a week so questions could be answered.
The Birmingham Holocaust Education Center, meanwhile, was stunned, writing in a statement:
The BHEC was surprised and disappointed by the reaction of the Birmingham City Council during the meeting on Tuesday, June 21. The BHEC has been working with representatives from the City for over two years on the Holocaust Garden project.
The purpose of the Holocaust Garden is not only to remember those who perished during the Holocaust, to honor those survivors who settled in Birmingham and Alabama after the war, but especially to teach the history and lessons of the Holocaust.
Our goal with the Garden is for it to be a tool to educate our community on the consequences of prejudice and discrimination so that future generations do not go down that same slippery slope of hate.
“I hope we can come together as a city,” Rebecca Dobrinski, the center’s executive director, said.
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