HEFNU Statement Condemning the Defacement of the Rock at Northwestern University
November 16, 2021
The displacement by European settlers of indigenous peoples, including members of the Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Odawa Nations, upon whose traditional homelands Northwestern University resides, was a mass atrocity. The final stage of genocide is denial (https://www.hmd.org.uk/.../The-ten-stages-of-genocide...), which includes perpetrators or later generations denying the existence of a crime, destroying evidence and intimidating witnesses. Less than a week into Indigenous People’s Month, a tribute to and celebration of Indigenous peoples at Northwestern (at the Rock) created by NU’s Native American and Indigenous Student Alliance (NAISA), was defaced and painted over with anti-indigenous speech. The Holocaust Educational Foundation of Northwestern University, whose mission is to advance university-level Holocaust education around the world, denounces this attempted erasure of the experiences, histories, and commemorations of indigenous people. “We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” – Elie Wiesel