In recent days, our community has been actively engaged in sincere efforts to combat injustice and intolerance. ​Many of us have protested and carried signs declaring a commitment to end ​systemic racism, hatred and discrimination for all people.

On Saturday afternoon during the Jewish Sabbath, the oldest hatred, the oldest menace to a discriminated minority threatened the ​security of the Nashville Jewish Community.

Vandals desecrated the Nashville Holocaust Memorial on the site of the Gordon Jewish Community Center. Their vulgar insults and deliberate credos to white supremacy were splayed on the Memorial Walls where loved ones murdered in the Holocaust are honored.  For many, this is the only place to recognize family members because their bodies were consumed in crematorium and they have no graves. Those recognized on the walls were killed for only one reason, because they were Jewish. With this vile act, ​their memory was devalued and dishonored, leaving us feeling threatened and afraid.

Jews have been forced to live with the pain and fear of discrimination and stereotyping for centuries. The tension has never left our collective psyche. Yet, even as a discriminated minority, we understand that such hatred is not isolated.

Each year, the Nashville Holocaust Memorial hosts hundreds of visitors and groups from around the world. Our message is clear; "Never Again "must be our most important priority. Every one of us has a choice. We can be change agents to end injustice and intolerance. We can sustain the momentum  that has begun in our nation for all who are discriminated against .Or, we can tolerate living among those who poison us all with their hatred and desecrate  that which is most dear to us.

Felicia Figlarz Anchor

Nashville Holocaust Memorial Committee Chair