U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker has said that said about the duty to help those suffering from violence in the world and the inadmissibility of being silent in these circumstances and noted that ignoring the plight of the stranger made the atrocities of Babi Yar (Babyn Yar) possible.
“In times like these, it is all too easy to retreat into narrow self-interest. To ignore the plight of the stranger. To say to ourselves, “I am not the victim. This does not concern me.” But, as Elie Wiesel taught us, “Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented,” Pritzker said at the official commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Babi Yar Massacre in Kyiv on Thursday.
“A promise that is easily made but difficult to honor. Today, 75 years after Babyn Yar, human beings continue to commit unspeakable and unimaginable acts against each other. Across Europe, across the United States, and across the entire globe, we are seeing a rising hate and fear,” she said.
“In times like these – when millions of men, women, and children are driven from their homes by hate and fear – we cannot afford the cost of indifference. Indifference spreads the notion that the problems of your neighbor are not your problems. It absolves us of our responsibility to be our brother’s keeper. It betrays our promise of “never again,” Pritzker said.
