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“I mean, you could almost deny slavery in the US. They’re a few photos, some slavery narratives from children who were around at the time, fewer grownups. Tons of novels and films have covered it. But Holocaust deniers…I just don’t get. There’s actual footage of the carnage. To this day, there are Holocaust survivors. To this day, there are loads of literature and cinema that provide a picture into the horrors of that time. I just don’t get it,” Arkin Pryce sighed.

“I know,” Selah McGregor said as they walked to class at Delaware Institute of Technology. As they walked through the glittering halls and the sheets of glass that poured light into the space, they still had time before their next class. “I’m stuck on the idea that American slavery and the Holocaust are often lumped into one ideal. It’s like God’s chosen people and the lowest form of humans are set on a balance of history.”

“That’s right.”

“It’s like people are trying to out suffer one another. And the deniers are on the sideline hollering for both sides to be benched.”

“Still, the worst of them in terms of death and destruction is King Leopold II. His terror in the Congo was the first instance of using the term ‘crimes against humanity.’ His way of spreading the Word of the unknown and unknowable all while cornering the rubber trade led to over ten million lives destroyed. That’s another thing. People love to play the numbers game.”

“Goddamn right. People throw Stalin and Mao into the mix which would equal at least a hundred people who starved to death under their bloody reigns. Any form of systemized killing of human beings should be considered on the level of their own horrors.”

They made it to the lecture hall and found their seats.

“I think we should all be taught these disgusting displays of inhumanity. Not just in this class or in a movie but it should be woven through the thread of society. In our clothing, our news reports, we should have a day beyond Juneteenth to explore the various atrocities in this country and the world.”

“I know Israel recognizes the Holocaust. People even get out of their cars when an alarm sounds to mark the viciousness that was perpetrated against the stolen lives.”

“What is amazing is that all of the atrocities occurred out of something proposed to be good. American slaves were promised a better life beyond the grave; King Leopold II wanted to civilize the people of the Congo; the Nazis wanted to make their lives better by exterminating a minority; Mao and Stalin wanted to push for the ‘goodness of Communism.’

“Yeah, it’s like we go through our daily lives thinking they were the monsters they were, but it was impossible for them to look at themselves that way. Rationalization after rationalization permitted them to say they were doing the right thing. They were like jackals but worse. The animal kingdom cannot conceptualize but that didn’t stop them from gobbling up whole lives. The sacrifices, the alms, the mysticism of their own deranged minds told them that they could continue their disturbing, monstrous ways.”

“Facts. Once we sort out the multitudes of people most directed by the cruelty and barbarism of these brutes, why might glean a better understanding of humanity. And inhumanity.”

“If we just take our time and promote the Suffering Days including the Armenian murders, the terrors of serial killers, and all the ‘people’ who have throttled lives will be at hand.”

“Let us do that until the ends of the Earth.”