Below is the text of remarks delivered by Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) on November 16 at the Holodomor commemoration at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York.
Good afternoon, everyone. It’s an honor and a privilege to be here with you.
I’d like to thank Andriy Futey, Tamara Olexy and the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America for organizing this meaningful remembrance.
I also want to recognize the Ukrainian ambassador to the United Nations, Volodymyr Yelchenko, and the consul general, Oleksii Holubov, for being here with us today.
And if you can see close-up, I’m wearing yellow and blue in honor of the Ukrainian flag. May it wave forever!
Today, we remember how Stalin, an evil man, used the sharp scythe of hunger to brutally, brutally cut down millions of innocent Ukrainians. He tried to annihilate the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian spirit. But praise God, he failed on both counts.
Stalin is gone, Soviet Russia is gone, and the Ukrainian people live on. Long may they live!
I want to particularly honor the survivors who are here. Thank you for coming. And of course, there are so many in this audience who have parents, grandparents, great aunts or uncles, relatives of all kinds, who were killed during this shameful crime against humanity.
Their memory calls down to us through the decades for justice.
Every year, I have joined you on this solemn day because I believe, from the bottom of my heart, that it is our sacred duty to honor the victims of the Holodomor by pushing for widespread recognition of the horrors they suffered.
For too long – far too long – the Ukrainian genocide was not properly recognized or given the historical significance it deserved. That is why I worked so hard for the construction of a Holodomor memorial in Washington, D.C. That is why we gather here every year.
We can never, never forget these things because a genocide that’s not properly remembered can lead to another.
What happened in Ukraine may have been one of the earliest genocides of the 20th century, but it certainly was not the last. Millions more died as a result of the lessons unlearned, a legacy of suffering that stretches from the Three Pashas in Armenia, to Hitler in Germany, to Pol Pot in Cambodia; to the Balkans, Rwanda, Sudan, and beyond.
These events are more than just a stain on their nations or their continent. They are a stain on all of humanity.
Every time genocide occurs, we say, “Never again.” Time and again, we promise that we have learned a lesson; that we will stop these crimes from being repeated in other countries.
We should never fail to keep that promise.
And to do that, we must stare directly into the heart of darkness that occurred in Ukraine in 1932 and ’33, and ask ourselves, “How did this genocide happen? Who was responsible? Who answered the call for help? And who ran from responsibility?”
If we don’t ask these questions, then we ignore our moral responsibility to the countless innocent victims to make sure the whole world knows the truth.
Just a few days ago, Senator Bob Menendez asked for unanimous consent to pass a resolution formally recognizing the Armenian genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire; a resolution that passed the House of Representatives – bipartisan, Republican and Democrat – with more than 400 votes.
But Senator Lindsay Graham objected. He didn’t want to offend the president of Turkey, who was visiting the White House at the time.
That was shameful.
My friends, America cannot be the world’s perfect policeman at all times and in all places, but we have a responsibility to confront the evil of genocide when it rears its ugly head. And we must always use our moral compass to shake the conscience of the world when the lives of innocent millions hang in the balance.
That is why this annual commemoration is so important; not just for Ukrainian- Americans and all of us assembled here today, but for all Americans. It reminds us of the immense cost incurred when some allow moral equivocation to get in the way of principled action.
Ladies and gentlemen, today we honor the millions of lives that were cut short by Stalin’s cruelty – his evilness – nearly a century ago.
And we take solace in remembering that Ukraine has outlasted authoritarian thugs in the past, and will continue to do so in the future.
May God ensure that the flag of Ukraine proudly flies forever, no matter what another Stalin may try to do!
God bless you all. God bless the people of Ukraine.