Social Society

‘The View’ Banned Whoopi Goldberg for Two Weeks for Denying the Holocaust was About Race

I Wondered If This Was a ‘Cry’ for Relevance

Two images were seared into my mind when I visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. I’ll tell you what they were in a moment, but I need to catch this thought before it escapes me.

It was either shortly before or shortly after the event, but I was at the Holocaust Museum when a White Supremacist shot and killed a guard there. It couldn’t have been on the day of. I certainly would have remembered that. They would have locked-down the museum and we would have sheltered in place. But I remember this shooting was very close to the time I visited. It must have been before because I don’t remember an increased police presence during my visit. This brings me back to what I was originally saying.

When I visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, two visions were burnt into my mind. One was the exhibit of the hair. From my research, I have learned that 14,000 pounds (6,350 kilograms) of human hair was found at Auschwitz. I have to be honest. My stomach is actually turning as I write this. The other image that is burnt into my mind was the shoe exhibit. Each one of those shoes represented a person to me.

I remember being very stoic when I left the museum. I haven’t returned. My first and only visit there was in 2009. I remember because that was shortly before the Holocaust denier, 88-year-old James Wenneker von Brunn, went there and fatally shot Museum Special Police Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns.

Over the years at my job, my co-workers and I have learned so much about the Jewish holiday and the things that Jewish people did and do to celebrate their holiday. One U.S. Navy Sailor, OS2 Peskin, often shared the cuisine of his native land and told stories of why the Jews played with the dreidel, a four-sided spinning top, played during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. He said something about the secret codes they spoke in to hide their communications. They were very interesting stories.

And everyone knows the stories of what happened in Poland, the Soviet Union, and many other German territories in the late 1930s into the 1940s. Jewish people were made to wear identifying badges, most commonly, the Yellow Star of David, as a way of identifying their nationality.

I’ve heard why Whoopi said what she said. I can’t speak to what was in her mind or what she was thinking, but I can’t imagine she didn’t think the Holocaust wasn’t about race. Certain people were singled out to wear a yellow star on the front of their clothing and on the back, at the expense of being severely punished up to and including death. This was a government policy of Germany to isolate and dehumanize Jewish people in Europe.

Now, one might say, well, Black people didn’t have to wear a badge or a ribbon. Hmmm. Wouldn’t that be the thought? I wonder why they wouldn’t have to wear a badge. I wonder why when they were capturing people and putting them on slave ships, why didn’t they confuse who they were seeking?

Now, I won’t ever get into the debate of the Holocaust vs. Slavery. But the one thing I can say without equivocation is that the Holocaust, just like Slavery, was gatdayum, shonuff about race. So that makes me wonder if what was said was said to remain relevant in the topics of today. I don’t have an answer. Just a question.

About the Author

Julius Evans is a 2X Top Writer on Medium in Writing and Music. He has a Master of Arts degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College, Newport, RI; a Master of Arts degree in Strategic Communication and Leadership from Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ; a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from City University, Bellevue, WA, and an Associate of Arts Degree in Liberal Studies from Central Texas College, Killeen, Texas. He is a 1985 graduate of the Defense Information School (DINFOS) of Print and Electronic Journalism and Advanced Public Affairs. DINFOS was relocated from Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indianapolis, IN, to its current location at Fort George Meade, MD.

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