During the month of April, as we observe commemoration days for four genocides, we also take the opportunity to raise awareness about all genocides, including those being perpetrated today.

Scholars have noted that denial is the last phase of genocide. Indeed, all of the events commemorated in April and others like them have been minimized, denied, or distorted by the perpetrators and their protectors, a process that often begins as the persecution is taking place and which can last for generations after. The act of denial is one that seeks to rehabilitate the perpetrators, to normalize the hateful ideologies that animated the violence, and ultimately to rob the victims of the comfort that acknowledgement can bring.

April is an opportunity for those committed to history and remembrance to alert others to the moral and physical dangers of denying the past and of ignoring atrocities occurring in our own times.