Bill Text: NY K01072 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Recognizing the contributions of the Rockland County Holocaust Museum and Center for Tolerance and Education in working to End Jew Hate
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 15-2)
Status: (Passed) 2022-06-02 - adopted [K01072 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-K01072-Introduced.html
Assembly Resolution No. 1072 BY: M. of A. Lawler RECOGNIZING the contributions of the Rockland County Holocaust Museum and Center for Tolerance and Education in working to End Jew Hate WHEREAS, Individuals and organizations devoted to improving the quality of life for others, enabling them to build lives of dignity and self-worth are deserving of the highest praise and recognition; and WHEREAS, This Legislative Body is justly proud to recognize the contributions of the Rockland County Holocaust Museum and Center for Tolerance and Education in working to End Jew Hate; and WHEREAS, The Rockland County Holocaust Museum and Center for Tolerance and Education is an institution dedicated to educating all who wish to learn about the Holocaust, genocide, and grave human rights violations in order to promote understanding of causes and consequences, thereby enabling the foresight necessary to prevent similar recurrences; and WHEREAS, The idea of a permanent Holocaust Museum and Center for Tolerance and Education originated with the Rockland County Holocaust Commission, which was appointed by the County Legislature on May 15, 1979; and WHEREAS, In 1981, the Finkelstein Memorial Library granted space for a home to the newly formed Holocaust Museum and Study Center in Spring Valley, New York; and WHEREAS, Since its inception, the museum has been an important cultural and educational center for the region; as the community continued to grow and educational needs changed, the organization adopted a new name: the Holocaust Museum and Center for Tolerance and Education; and WHEREAS, During this time, museum stakeholders identified an increasing need for Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights education on the campus of Rockland Community College (RCC); subsequently, in 2015 the museum closed its doors in Spring Valley and moved to the RCC campus in Suffern, New York; and WHEREAS, Remaining true to its mission, the Rockland County Holocaust Museum and Center for Tolerance and Education educates, through the lens of the Holocaust, about the dangers of intolerance, to invoke critical thinking, and to inspire moral courage in the face of injustice; and WHEREAS, Furthermore, this vital institution facilitates an understanding of the universal nature of human dignity and the critical importance to respect and defend it; and WHEREAS, Working collaboratively with individuals and organizations who share its commitment to justice for all people, the Rockland County Holocaust Museum and Center for Tolerance and Education serves and builds its community through quality educational programming and commemoration events; and WHEREAS, The Rockland County Holocaust Museum and Center for Tolerance and Education also confronts acts of ignorance, hatred, and injustice by serving as a model of community engagement directed by informed, rational understanding; and WHEREAS, The Holocaust Museum and Center for Tolerance and Education is proud to be a part of the EndJewHatred movement, a grassroots civil rights movement engaged in peaceful direct action to end Jew hatred in this generation; and WHEREAS, In an effort to advance the goals of the movement, the museum set up an End Jew Hatred Task Force which will focus on educating about the endemic nature of Jew-hatred and how the Holocaust is still relevant today, as well as unpacking the inherited trauma Jews experience while teaching them how to shed the fears of the past and embrace a more confident future without Jew-hatred; and WHEREAS, The combination of decentralizing communications technology and rising civil rights activism have created a unique opportunity for Jews to advocate for full liberation from bigotry and oppression; and WHEREAS, We learn in the aftermath of the Holocaust that indifference to genocide cannot be tolerated; Holocaust remembrance imposes a moral obligation to speak out; and WHEREAS, The People of the State of New York should remain eternally vigilant against all tyranny and recognize that bigotry provides a breeding ground for tyranny to flourish; and WHEREAS, This Legislative Body representing the people of the State of New York is proud to recognize the vital work of the Rockland County Holocaust Museum and Center for Tolerance and Education in working to End Jew Hate, and its many years of steadfast and unwavering commitment to the victims of the Holocaust, their families and the Jewish community-at-large; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to recognize the contributions of the Rockland County Holocaust Museum and Center for Tolerance and Education in working to End Jew Hate; and be it further RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be transmitted to the Rockland County Holocaust Museum and Center for Tolerance and Education.