Statement in Response to the Death of George Floyd in Minneapolis

May 29, 2020
For Immediate Release
Contact: Deborah Lom
(516) 571-8040
dlom@hmtcli.org

The Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County’s
Statement in Response to
the Death of George Floyd in Minneapolis

The recent death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, while in police custody, is another reminder of the dangerous potential when we do not as a society and as individuals advocate for the respect of every human being. We encourage people to take to heart the lessons about the dangers of intolerance that we learned from the Holocaust and to engage in the ongoing challenge to confront systemic and individual racism and prejudice.

For almost 30 years, the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County (HMTC) has been educating adults and students about the dangers of intolerance, prejudice and racism.

One of HMTC’s signature programs, Law Enforcement and Society, is offered specifically to police departments in Nassau and Suffolk Counties and elsewhere. In this program we teach about the actions of the police in Nazi Germany, that made it possible for the Holocaust to happen, and help current law enforcement officers develop the tools they need to maintain high ethical standards in the challenging work that they do.

We mourn the death of George Floyd and extend our sympathy to his family and the Minneapolis community and encourage people everywhere to heed the lessons of the Holocaust about the dangers of hate and intolerance.

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