67 years ago, World War 2 ended. With it, ended history’s darkest hour, a terrible time we refer to as the Holocaust. The holocaust—or, rather, the barbarians who committed the ultimate acts of violence—ended the lives of six million Jews, as long as five million other Soviet prisoners, homosexuals, handicapped people, Polish and Romanian civilians, and anyone who dared stand up to the Nazis. Millions of lives. Millions of worlds ripped apart by bullets. Millions of dreams strangled by the gas chambers. Children, dumped in a pit and shot all together, crying and begging. Women, destroyed and defiled by monsters. Men, broken down to their very core, dishonored and ashamed.

It’s hard to understand how humans can be such animals. It’s hard to understand how Nazi soldiers could go to sleep, and what’s impossible to answer is the simple question: why? Why are men evil, why have innocent people been slaughtered senselessly? Why did God let it happen? I don’t know the answer to any of these questions, but I think I know what evil stood behind this: Racism.

Racism. Hating people for no reason, a deep-rooted hate. Believing that your race is any better than anyone else’s. Arrogance, idiocy, and stupidity. Stupidity, however, can be dangerous. Only 67 years ago, racism slaughtered over 20 million people, victims of the Holocaust as well as the brave soldiers from England, France, Russia and the United States.

The holocaust was the most horrible thing that ever happened. There are no words to describe it, so I won’t bother trying to find the right ones. These heroes, these victims, who unwillingly sacrificed their lives, did not die in vain. If there is one thing we learn from the Holocaust it is that racism is NEVER just idiocy. It leads to evil, murder, and destruction.

Take a minute to think about the 500,000 to one million Tutsis who were killed in 100 days in Rwanda. Our world is such that only a few years after the Holocaust, some of us have already forgotten the obvious outcome of racism.

Let’s honor the lives of all the victims of racism in the world, learn from these wars. If we can fight racism on every front, someday we can create a world where all humans are equal.