The 20th century has been a bloodbath in the tub of civilization. The World Wars preoccupied governments, and larger political maneuvers took precedence over the more vital issues of life, civility and justice. To have an era that boasts of its advances commit some of the most heinous crimes imaginable to humankind renders its people a hollow shell, lifeless and cold. This past century opened with the Armenian Genocide as the first in a long list of brutality committed in the name of mass hatred. Even to this day, we hear of how callous people can be, how maliciously prejudice manifests.
Governments deny, look away and forget.
When politics dictate protocol, power and wealth instruct righteousness to see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. I speak to my fellow students. I beseech the entire student body to see, hear and speak of past horrors so as to prevent future atrocities from occurring. Every individual who has felt the pain of betrayal and victimization, no matter how displaced or distant in time, has an obligation to fellow humankind. I have spoken of one massacre in the name of all crimes against humanity.