Earlier this week I wrote about Assemblyman Dov Hikind's ignorance regarding the Holocaust. Dov Hikind opposes adding five stone markers honoring the 5 million non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust to the 234 markers honoring the 6 million Jewish victims at Brooklyn's Holocaust Memorial Park. The excuse for opposing honoring the 5 million non-Jews who died at the hands of Nazi brutality is: (from the DAILY NEWS Sunday, June 7th 2009)

"The Holocaust is a uniquely Jewish event," said Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn)...

As I discussed in my last article on the subject (where I also quote the Daily News more extensively), Dov Hikind is rewriting history here, writing out 5 million victims of the Holocaust and joins hands with the Iranians in being a Holocaust denier. I should add that Dov Hikind has previously openly supported racial profiling of Muslim Americans and keeping blacks out of "good neighborhoods," so he is known for his intolerance.

Dov Hikind has taken a strong role in one of the Brooklyn City Council races when he endorsed candidate Brad Lander and has hepled him campaign in Boro Park. Given Brad Lander's alliance with a politician KNOWN for his intolerance, I thought it important to get statements from the candidates in the race on Dov Hikinds Holocaust denial. Two candidates, Gary Reilly and Brad Lander himself, sent me statements.

Gary Reilly had a simple and to the point satement:

<blockquote>"It saddens me that some people could think that to recognize the other 5,000,000 victims of the Holocaust could somehow diminish the memory of the 6,000,000 Jews murdered by the Nazi regime. To recognize the full scope of the horror is appropriate (and indeed, necessary) for a public memorial, a reminder that we must never again allow this kind of evil to happen."</blockquote>

Brad Lander, as is appropriate for someone allied with Dov Hikind and hence implicitly accepting of Hikind's intolreance, had a longer statement:

<blockquote>I strongly support the New York City Parks Department’s inclusion of the full range of victims of Nazi atrocities – Jews, gays, Romani, Jehovah’s Witnesses, the disabled, and political prisoners (as well as Catholics, Slavs, trade unionists, and others) – in Brooklyn’s Holocaust Memorial Park.

Honoring all victims of Nazi persecution does not diminish the immensity of the six million Jews murdered by Hitler and the Nazis. It is important to commemorate all victims of the Holocaust, both to accurately record history, and to learn its lessons. To me, the lesson of the Holocaust is never again to anyone, anywhere. I have been proud to stand with Jews and many others in opposition to genocide in Darfur, and to vicious bias murders in New York City – activism which stems from a shared history of oppression, and an unyielding commitment to human rights.

I am grateful to have the support of Assemblyman Dov Hikind in my campaign for City Council (as well as Congressman Jerrold Nadler, State Senators Liz Krueger and Daniel Squadron, City Councilmember Rosie Mendez, Frederick A. O. Schwarz Jr, Ruth Messinger, and many others who are champions in the fight for human rights). While Assemblyman Hikind and I agree on the need for affordable housing, support for small businesses, public safety, strong social service organizations, and improved neighborhood quality-of-life in Boro Park (where his Assembly District and the City Council district I am seeking to represent overlap), I strongly disagree with him on this issue.</blockquote>

Brad made no comment regarding Hikind's past support for racial profiling and ethnicly segregated neighborhoods. I will leave it to you to consider whether registering disagreement is an adequate reaction to Holocaust denial and bigotry.