Never Again Spokane

Also tying for second place in the Jessica Stein Memorial Art Contest was Anna Quintero-Castaneda, an 11th grader at University High School. Anna’s piece is titled “But Nobody Came”. Anna’s message about the dangers of indifference is delivered is such a powerful and clearheaded way as she moves us through the three panels and the three different perspectives. It’s almost impossible not to reflect on indifference to suffering today. She wrote:

“My piece is to be read in 3 steps.
In my opinion, the United States, FDR had inherent biases toward “people of “undesirable” national origin, including eastern European Jews.”
The threats and assaults by the N**i regime warranted immediate intervention, but that did not happen.
This first image represents the consideration and response any moral agency (FDR) should take in the face of genocidal ideation, threats and or actions – it is what should have been going through his mind when was informed of the events and threats.
The second image illustrates the indifference to their pleas.
The last image illustrates the grievous error for the United States’ failure to act sooner.
Aggressive steps could/should have taken in response to the first threats, and subsequent organization, and assaults.
I believe, unfortunately, their biases informed their indifference and behaviors. It was a costly mistake to lives all around the world.”

A final runner up in the Jessica Stein Memorial Art Contest was Allison Knight, a 12th grader at University High School. Her piece is titled “The Cries Falling Upon Deaf Ears” and we were so struck by the contrast between the smug neutrality and the human crisis going on in the background. We also so appreciated the historical detail represented in Allison’s caption. She wrote:

“Being inspired from FDR’s beginning response to World War 2 of “neutrality,” this response
shaped the United States’ actions from the beginning of the war. In addition to not trying to get involved with foreign affairs, in the 1930s, the U.S. focused more on domestic affairs at home and military victory over the humanitarian issues in Germany. As the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum mentions, how “economic devastation of the Great Depression in the United States, combined with a commitment to neutrality and deeply held prejudices against immigrants, limited Americans’ willingness to welcome refugees”; the U.S. neglected aspects of the Holocaust for their own interest. And not until they were more affected, the United States didn’t repeal the neutrality acts until 1941. When tensions rose between Japan and the U.S., their engagement with the war was limited to aiding in supplying France, and Great Britain gives. When Pearl Harbor happened, the U.S. entered the war and officially declared war on N**i Germany and Italy. All in all, almost not taking notice of the events happening with the Jews, the U.S. was interested primarily in defending democracy rather than rescuing Jewish victims of the N**i regime. Furthermore, not until January 1944 that the US government created the War Refugee Board. Which was tasked with trying to rescue and provide relief for Jews and other groups persecuted by the N**is did they directly help with the Holocaust. Especially turning a blind eye towards Germany at the beginning of WW2, FDR and the United States didn’t help until they were directly affected. In the Perils of Indifference speech Weisel describes how “indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor—never his victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten.” I chose to have FDR walk away from a Jew (also representing the Jewish population in Germany) to be ignored, as their cries and pleas are falling upon deaf ears, they are almost as if feeling forgotten as the United States is overlooking them, the Jewish population is being turned away when they needed help most.”