Thursday, July 11, 2013

The Courage to Sign and Speak Up

Recently, I saw an exhibit called "The Courage to Remember." It is a traveling Holocaust exhibit, produced by the Museum of Tolerance, the educational arm of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, that features 200 exclusive photographs along with commentaries and quotes.

It was frightening to see the similarities of their resolution to do away with the Jewish population with the determination of certain parents & professionals in the United States who are determined to do away with ASL-Deaf People and the language they speak, American Sign Language.

All you need to do is read the quotes from Hitler himself and from some recognizable names such as Joseph Goebbels and insert the word “ASL-Deaf people” in those quotables.

Read on. The quotes are nothing short of chilling.

“The Jew (ASL-Deaf) is our greatest enemy.”
-propaganda on blackboard

“So I believe that I act in the spirit of Almighty God; by defending myself against the Jew (ASL-Deaf), I’m fighting for the work of the Lord.
-Adolf Hitler, 1924, Mein Kampf

“As to annihilate German Jewry (ASL-Deaf) …let no one doubt our resolution.”
-Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda, 1933

“…harshness is kindness toward the future…”
-Adolf Hitler, March 1941

“It is good that we are preceded by an aura of terrors for our plans to exterminate Jewry (ASL-Deaf).”
-Adolf Hitler, October 1941

“By reason of their birth and race, all Jews (ASL-Deaf) are part of an international conspiracy against National Socialist Germany (oral-deaf). The treatment we give them does them no wrong. They have more than deserved it.”
-Joseph Goebbels, November 1941

“The Jewish Quarter of Warsaw (ASL-Deaf) is no more.”
-S.S. General Jurgen Stroop, Warsaw Report 1943

Finally at Nuremberg Trials, 1945:

“They are living symbols of racial hatreds, of terrorism & violence, and of the arrogance & cruelty of power.”
-Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson
Nuremberg 1945

If you need evidence of the current propaganda against ASL-Deaf people, just start with the pseudo deaf-friendly website: thedeafcommunity.org. It was created by two parents in Florida who believe they are representing the Deaf Community.

Here are some examples from their website:

1. “…Here we represent the greater good of the entire deaf community…”
Questions: Who’s “we?” Who's the "entire community?" What's the "greater good?" (see quote #3 below where they contradict themselves)

2. “…The Deaf Community is organizing an army of individuals to join us in this mission...”
Questions: What are they organizing an army for? Who are the individuals they are asking to join them?

3. “…A small minority of deaf individuals do not believe in choice and are anti-oral. We do not represent them.
Question: Why would they exclude ASL-Deaf people if they claim to represent the Deaf Community? (see how this contradicts #1 quote)

4. “So we decided to take our name back! The truth is that no one speaks for the whole community.”

Those border on the outrageous like the quotes spewed by Hitler and Goebbels.

It is incredulous to me that those parents and professionals -- who are trying to make their deaf children “hearing” -- are taking the “Deaf community” from me who is ASL-Deaf and a member of 4 generations of ASL-Deaf people. I am fine with being a member of ASL-Deaf culture/community except that they told us there's no such thing.

Kind of reminds me of the quote:

“Rumors are carried by Haters spreaded by Fools and accepted by Idiots.”
-Unknown