In 1948, my father, sister, and I were sponsored by my family living in New York City and obtained visas to immigrate to the United States. We arrived on a ship filled with other survivors of the Holocaust, all of whom looked forward to living a life of freedom in America.
Shortly after arriving, as we got settled in our new country, my father and I joined a group of survivors from our hometown of Mukačevo on a boat ride around Manhattan. It was a beautiful day, and we were all excited to be enjoying and exploring our new hometown. The boat was filled with people from all cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
In one section on the boat, there was a group of Puerto Rican people enjoying themselves and playing music. I distinctly remember how some of the people we were with whispered with disdain and disparaged the Puerto Rican group’s music and loud style. I turned to one of them and asked, “After the discrimination that we just lived through and escaped, how can you speak that way about another group of people?”
I don’t recall their response, but I still feel appalled at their words—and to know that, as humans, we don’t always apply lessons learned from our past to our current world or our future. I am reminded of this incident when I hear people today spewing racism, antisemitism, and all kinds of hate.
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