人權組織舉辦共產主義受害者紀念日活動

歡迎來自世界各地的難民 今天我們認識勇敢的社區成員 他們抗爭了共產黨的過去和現在 許多人都逃離了共產黨 並在美國獲得了自由 有十個國家通過法律 正式認識11月7日 為共產黨殉職日 我們感謝喬治亞州 通過《588條條例》 通過了2023年3月 為了今晚的活動 我們首先會聽到我們的優秀演講者 隨著節目進行 我們會轉到國歌會議 當中會有20個參與的組織 為他們獻上花瓣 以慰勞共產黨的受害者 我們會在下層的接待處 就在這些樓梯下結束 我希望開始節目 我們先歡迎 Rodney Mims Cooke Jr. 創始人和總統 National Monuments Foundation 是一個專注於 文化和歷史的 修復項目的組織 導致了Atlanta的 Millennium Gate Museum 設計和建設 當然是在我們身上 他帶領了世界上 許多令人印象深刻的設計項目 包括了 Atlanta的世界運動選手 王子威爾斯 Atlanta的世界運動選手 1996年奧運賽 他目前的項目包括 三座博物館建築 和18座 Rodney Cooke Sr. Park 一座19世紀修復的 奧姆斯特設計公園 原本是他的家人建造的 現在被他父親稱為 1960-1970年代的 他也經常提到 社會主義 所以Rodney I'll turn over the podium to you I'm gonna hang on to this just in case Welcome to the Millennium Gate And Jake, where are you? Just catch We don't want all glory to fall No, we don't We certainly No, I got this one You get the other one We are really honored to have all of you here We got some old friends certainly and some new friends And I see my old buddy Jose who has told me some things about communist regimes that he's experienced personally that have chilled my blood And now we're looking at it again with our greatest city The events of this week have made such drastic adjustments to the American landscape and lexicon And this event and this organization is all the more important to teach our young people just what they are facing This is a crisis And don't hesitate that it is not a crisis And President Reagan I think said one I don't think he said two generations One generation is all it takes to lose this republic We have lost two generations And the only blessing I can say about COVID Is that we figured out what they were teaching our children And now we know it And adjustments are being made So I applaud Andrea And her mother too I mean they're both my dear friends And we welcome you home to the Millennium Gate And we are delighted that we could do this with you And hope that it's a tradition of long standing come again anytime And also other than Jake who is a flag holder He is our Jake Kuniansky He is head of our education department And if Gabriella if you don't mind stand up And she is running the office for me And has Polish background So she will be leaving a bouquet of flowers representing Poland So you may sit Thank you And so I appreciate the I'm not going to Mr. Consul General There's so many VIPs here I can't possibly introduce everybody I'll let others do that But it's so good to see you And I appreciate everyone being here And I turn the microphone to whoever is coming next Who is coming next You are emceeing this Thank you We'll keep an eye out Thank you Thank you very much Rodney Next I'd like to introduce Dr. Eric Patterson President and CEO of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation Which educates people About the millions killed And those still suffering Under communist regimes Through its one of a kind museum Groundbreaking academic programs Policy relevant research And museum And inspiring witness stories So the world will never forget So with that I'll turn it over to you Eric Well thank you very much Ashley And I just want to say A huge thank you to Our partners tonight To Rodney Mims Cook Jr. And the National Monuments Foundation Thank you for hosting us here To Andrea Lauer Rice Trustee of the Victims of Communism Foundation And of course as many of you know The president of the Hungarian American Coalition Dr. Perez thank you We're looking forward to your remarks Later this evening Well as you know today is Victims of Communism Day Because it is the day That Lenin and his conspirators Overthrew the new elected Parliament in Russia And imposed the Soviet Union In its form of communism On the people of Russia And then quickly thereafter Attacked Poland Tried to set up a Communist regime in Hungary It all happened very very quickly At the end of World War I But I'd like to take you to A different November 7th For just a moment And that is 35 years ago today November 7th 1990 Was the last Soviet military parade Remember those big parades The general secretary Be up in a box The soldiers would goose step Across Red Square There'd be artillery There'd be missiles There'd be tanks And the Soviet Union Would be shaking its fist at the world Hear us roar Look at our mighty power This military colossus But you know it was all phony That last military parade Just a few months later The Soviet Union actually ceased to exist In that year between November of 1989 and November of 1990 Going into that last parade All of the countries of Eastern Europe Threw off their communist overlords None of them voted To put the communists back in power Not in Poland Not in Latvia Not in Lithuania None of them None of them looked to the Soviet Union So that last parade As the Soviets were trumpeting The power of communism It was a reminder to us Of just how bankrupt they were Now do you remember For those of us who are A little bit older here tonight What else was happening In November of 1990 At the United Nations The world was trying to figure out How to deal with Saddam Hussein Having gobbled up his neighbor Kuwait And the United States And many others came to a resolution In November of 1990 That if necessary They would use military force To expel Saddam Hussein From Kuwait What about all that Soviet hardware It was useless It was totally useless As a force for world peace and security And that's what communism is like It uses its guns and tanks and walls To keep its own people in To repress its own people It's ideologically bankrupt It's philosophically bankrupt And literally by that point in time They couldn't even pay their own soldiers And so we have much today Looking at our own time and ahead A hundred million people to commemorate Who were murdered by communism in the past But also the chance to assemble And to say we won't stand for it In places like Cuba and Venezuela And Nicaragua and North Korea and China We have hope for a change in the world As we see it Thank you very much Thank you Eric Now I'd like to introduce Andrea Lauer Rice Who has served as president Of the Hungarian American Coalition The community's largest umbrella organization For the past eight years From 2019 to 2023 She was the US regional diaspora president Representing the American Hungarian community To Hungary She is co-founder of Memory Project An award winning collection Of 150 videos Based on life stories of Hungarians Who immigrated to the US Especially those following The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 She is the proud daughter And granddaughter of 56ers And I know we'll hear a bit more About her family's story tonight And she's created numerous multimedia projects To teach the next generation About the 1956 revolution And the evils of communism Including leading the charge To create a 14 foot freedom fighter statue In the heart of Atlanta, Georgia Just beyond us here So please be sure to take a look At the freedom fighter statue And we'll have a procession to the statue Just after this program We at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation Are proud to have Andrea As a member of our board of trustees And so with that I'll turn it over to you, Andrea Thank you so much, Ashley Good evening, ladies and gentlemen And thank you so much for joining us For braving rush hour traffic On a Friday evening And the possible weather issues we had I'm so heartened to see So many representatives here Honorary consuls And ethnic organizations Represented tonight at our inaugural VOC Roll Call of Nations in Atlanta It's already been mentioned several times But we all hope this is the first Of many annual events There are certainly many of us Who have been Who can attest to the evils of communism And would like to remember Those who were touched by it Thank you, Rodney and the team For hosting us At the incredible Millennium Gate Thank you, Eric and Ashley For traveling to Atlanta For this special evening Every one of us here tonight Oh, hello I feel like this is symbolic I'm just going to wrap myself up In the flag here Every one of us here tonight Has experienced firsthand Or been influenced by Or in my case, raised by Someone Okay, someone deeply affected By the horrific ideology of communism My mother escaped Hungary with her family After the Hungarian revolution of 1956 Was brutally defeated Every family member was involved In fighting for their freedom In some way My grandmother tended to Wounded freedom fighters In the back of her pharmacy On Moritzburg in Budapest My grandfather and 14-year-old mother Made cobblestone barricades To block the tanks My 17-year-old aunt Made Molotov cocktails From the pharmacy's alcohol supply And gave them to her classmates It all started on October 23, 1956 Under a blue sky With so much hope They stayed until all hope was gone And the Russians had crushed The revolution on November 4 With 200,000 other Hungarians They fled and eventually made it To the United States Where they began a new life I grew up hearing those stories Of life under communism And learning the lessons From my grandparents and my mother To be informed, to stay active, to vote To get the highest level of education You possibly can Because even in the darkest days No one can take away Your knowledge or your faith And above all else Fight for your freedom The Millennium Gate Park Is special to me Because two years ago We put up the 1956 Freedom fighter statue here She is a composite Of several female freedom fighters Start that again She is a composite Of several female freedom fighters Including my mother, my aunt And my grandmother And she stands across the way From a Cuban freedom fighter So this is indeed The perfect location For the event this evening Showcasing freedom fighters Who rose up against communism Across the world from one another Our hope is that this statue Along with events like this Serve as a reminder of the dangers Of the dark communist ideology And how, as Ronald Reagan famously said Thank you for that intro there, Rodney Freedom is never more than one generation Away from extinction We didn't pass it to our children In the bloodstream It must be fought for and protected And handed on for them to do the same On Tuesday of this week As Rodney already referenced We were once again reminded Of just how fragile democracy can be In disbelief we watched Zoran Mondami, a self-proclaimed socialist Some would say communist Elected as mayor of the largest city in America Accounting for nearly 9% of the US economy Just a few years ago That would have been unthinkable And it left me scratching my head How, how could this happen That is exactly why Events like this are so very important That is why we build statues Why we share stories Why we create curriculum And why we pass legislation To compel schools to teach About the evils of communism I am a proud member of the board of VOC As Ashley said On a board call just yesterday I learned that there is a single Chinese character With two meanings Danger and opportunity That is the perfect metaphor for this moment Instead of just being horrified By the New York election results We can look at it as an opportunity To teach the next generation That this ideology is an anathema To our American values In America we believe in freedom We believe in capitalism We believe in opportunity And that is what we fight for So tonight we come together To honor the victims of communism And tomorrow we roll up our sleeves For there is more work to be done And this is a fight we must win Thank you Thank you very much, Andrea I am now pleased to introduce José Pérez José Pérez was born in Cuba Moved to Key West at age 12 To escape Castro's regime He is the retired president of Target Market Trends A consulting firm he founded in 2002 He also spent 25 years at Bell South In various management roles And worked as an international consultant with Gartner From 2004 to 2011 He served on the Board of Education And held leadership positions With the National Association of State Boards of Education And State Charter School Commission He served as regent For the University System of Georgia From 2019 to 2024 And is currently the fourth district representative For the Georgia Department of Economic Development So José, welcome I didn't send that bio in My goodness, thank you, thank you You, Andrea, you are a hard act to follow OK I want to stand here and say fight, fight, fight You've seen that before someplace, haven't you Good evening to everyone Thank you for coming I think this is so important Can you hear me OK I wear hearing aids And when I think I'm loud, I'm not at all So OK, good So it is a pleasure Where is Rodney Behind you Behind me Thank you for Thank you That's a good picture Thank you to Rodney for holding us here And Rodney was also very helpful In getting our Cuban patriot up as well When I knocked on many, many doors Trying to erect it And it was a time when Many people were actually tearing down statues And no one wanted to commit Most politicians didn't want Not in my city I don't want this, I don't want that And he was the one that immediately said Yeah, this is the gateway to the future We want to bring it here And here we are In the next step Of what it is that we need to do So we have over here our friends That were the Cubans like me We came young And we call ourselves Point Fives You know, you have first generation You have immigrants And we're sort of halfway in between Because the fact is that we came young So most of our education has been here So we can tell jokes in English and laugh And we can tell jokes in Spanish And sometimes even translate them across And we still laugh at each other's jokes Usually when you tell an American a Cuban joke And you translate it They go, not funny at all Anyway, as an economist I have numbers So forgive me for that But I gotta say them In the 50s Cuba was actually one of the richest countries In Latin America It had a higher GDP per capita than Georgia We are here in Georgia Cuba had a higher GDP It's also a relatively large island Although when you use the term island We kind of think of the Bahamas You go to Nassau or whatever A little tiny thing Or Key West Three by five, that's an island Cuba, if you superimpose it Over Florida and Georgia You're 20 miles from Tennessee It's that long Does that give you a sense? There were six million Cubans When Castro came in And virtually a million and three Have left the country Now who left the country? The ideal, and I think they've learned So they move a little slower So I don't expect New York to move very fast Castro moved in very fast It was awful in the sense That I was a kid in sixth grade And I saw them come in And mobs went and shot others And just went into homes And killed the people, stole their goods And here I am, a 12-year-old Watching this happen And I can still see it vividly Then he came in, Castro, and he said That one should be guilty That one is guilty, guilty Then they set up kangaroo courts And they condemned him And they shot him And they threw the firing squad And they televised him So this little kid watched it on TV And we saw these people Just rolled over and fall dead That doesn't leave your mind as a young man Probably as an older person either But nevertheless It was that kind of intimidation It became the rule of the land If you do anything against us You're going to get shot Immediately they began to institute Neighborhood watch Not in the way that we think of them here It was they were watching you Not the robbers They were watching you And if you said anything If you said anything against the revolution The government Then they would turn you in And they could knock on your door No due diligence They just take you in And maybe they would see you again Maybe not So it was anybody's guess Then I was 12 So then the rumor began running through the island That Castro next was going to institute An army duty, a draft so to speak Age at 13 And that was the straw That broke the camel's back And my parents said You're leaving Now the other story That I want to tell you about is In Cuba we had a lot of And I was sharing it with Some of my Chinese friends from the press In Cuba we had a lot of Chinese people And many of them had left China during Mao And I remember also As a little kid Around the kitchen table My parents speaking to our Chinese neighbors And my Chinese neighbors were saying That guy in the mountains He was speaking through the radio He had not come in yet Clandestine radio And he was speaking about this and that The other and they said to him Sounds just like Mao That's the way Mao was selling communism Before he came in too And my father I remember that distinctly My father said That cannot happen here What do you guys say It cannot happen here We have it in New York That's what my father said No it can't happen here We have the constitution We have the president We have this We have the other And it was all patterned Right after the American constitution It was identical Even the capital in Cuba It's just like the American capital And it happened And it happened with a vengeance And there's I don't know I mean I lost track I went to Key West My parents stayed behind My father was finally out in five years In between there was the Bay of Pigs Where they picked up most of my family And put them in jail And my dad was hiding in places Till he got out And I was a junior in high school And we were able to negotiate Well he was able to negotiate A government apartment So my father was washing dishes My mother was cleaning hotel rooms I was working full time Not full time Part time after school Many hours at a theater So I got there at four And left at eleven That's almost a full time Seven days a week We made tamales My mother was a great cook Made tamales And then we sold them And I distributed on the weekends On the Sundays and all that And we had nicknames Key West A lot of Cuban families there And of course my name is Jose And the Jose's in Spanish They're called Pepe's So my name became Pepe el Tamalero The guy that sold tamales So we all had Pepe Descarado There's Juanito Factura All the names associated with young people In our community In our culture And it was fun that way I am so happy to be an American I consider myself And we raised our kids Yolanda Yolanda is back there Yolanda and I raised our kids To be in the mainstream The fact that I worked for Bell South Got me out of Miami to here And I'm delighted to be here We were able to raise our kids I think better than in Miami The drugs were crazy there at that time We thought it would be better here And it's been perfect Our kids are mainstream We have one over here One that couldn't make it And the other two The daughter and husband are in New York City Imagine that So I just cannot imagine how that happened But it's free stuff So I ended up as an adjunct Running my company I was on the board of Georgia Gwinnett College And I said let me get to the students Let me teach them So I began to join as an adjunct And often during the class I did many different things Associated with supply and demand And opportunity cost And I think we need to teach our legislators economics Because some of the things That I see coming It's just beyond me But anyway in class I often ask the kids How many of you want free things And they all wanted free things How many of you are willing To pay the others for free things No hands went up Now that's simple isn't it Isn't that simple to understand Tax the rich The rich are the ones That have precisely the power To move away The poor are the ones that are trapped They can't afford it So in what mind does it fit That I can just make those people pay I'll force them to pay It's in history They move A million three cubits move These are the capitalists That were in Cuba These were the people That ran companies That were successful companies And what happened They moved And somehow Fidel by the way Was also 32 when he took over And he had never worked either His father was supportive Even with kids It's almost like deja vu It is actually very scary to me And I fret over that Because until you walk In somebody's moccasins You don't really understand I invited the speaker of the house I spoke to the governor I invited many others They don't see it as urgent I do We need to get this going It needs to be urgent Perhaps now With what happened in New York More of us will understand Now Dr. Trammell Where are you? Dr. Trammell helped me Two years ago I went and spoke to him Dr. Trammell Chairs the I always get your title mixed up The civics board Essentially So he develops and oversees The curriculum and everything else For civics in our state So I went and approached him With the idea of establishing A curriculum that teaches about communism At the state level And he helped me get The board of education to pass it And that was They passed it unanimously And it's being taught So that was an achievement So the second thing Is that I wanted it to be coded Coded It's a secret name Coded means that they write it into law To make it difficult to change So the curriculum is there It's developed It's being taught And all I want is for it to be passed In our legislature And it doesn't make it a committee Because there are other things That are more urgent And I keep indicating I say wait a moment When is the right time To plant a tree 20 years ago right Well we didn't do it So when is the right time To plant a tree Go ahead Give me a guess How about manana Right let's do it tomorrow Let's get it done Ray Martinez is a good friend He's a legislator That for the last three years He has actually battled He passed this resolution And the last one was on 25 So he's passed it for 23, 24, 25 Maybe 26 will do it So and I'm putting more pressure on him Because of mandami So yes you're absolutely correct So this is an awful awful thing That is presenting an opportunity And we're prepared for it So if we work hard And all of you can help me And by the way Dr. Trammell Is also a candidate For superintendent of schools in Georgia So with that I thank you so much And I'm sorry I got I wrote this to read from And of course I have it But you get emotional When you get up here You heard what I had to say pretty much So bottom line is that I came here As a refugee But in reality this is my home I even don't put Cuba When I put my profile as my home Because if I were to go back there It just wouldn't be home anymore I wouldn't recognize half this stuff I wouldn't even probably Connect with the people etc And I found a country that strives That's the key word strives And I wish I had a better life Now that I'm reading To protect the rights And the freedoms of our people And I'm grateful everyday Everyday when I wake up For the chance to live in a place Where liberty is not just a word It's a way of life As we make more of Communism Memorial An annual tradition here in our city Let's commit to telling the truth About Communism We all need to connect Make sure that we carry forth And tell others Let us honor the victims Not just with words but with action With education With remembrance And a renewed dedication to liberty I really live And Yolanda can attest that Even with the most liberals Even with the crazy ideas I would listen to them I would not shy from an argument But I'm reason You know maybe in some cases Too reason Too reasonable to listen to them Anyway I'm over here wondering And I believe we've got Wine and other herbs waiting for us So thank you very much And we may never forget Those who suffered And may we always cherish Please the freedom that we have Thank you He is an award winning author Of 16 books for young readers Including The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet Martina the Beautiful Cockroach Rita and Ralph's Rotten Day 14 Cows for America Which is a New York Times bestseller And The Peanut Man Which was selected by Georgia's Center for the Book To represent Georgia At the Library of Congress's National Book Festival for 2025 And just as an aside I have young children And we love reading All of Carmen's books to our children So they have wonderful lessons in them Her personal stories first appeared On NPR's National Book Festival Excuse me NPR's All Things Considered Funny, insightful, and frequently irreverent Didi's narratives are called from her childhood As a Cuban refugee in Decatur, Georgia She hosts the four time Emmy winning Children's program Love That Book Didi is also an accomplished lecturer Having been a guest speaker For the Library of Congress Columbia University The TED and TEDx Conference And the Kennedy Center Among other distinguished venues An editor and lifelong advocate for libraries She previously served on the advisory board Of the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives So Carmen, please welcome Hola, y'all I can say that because And by the way We do have hors d'oeuvres And we have more importantly We have a ceremony So blessed are the brief I came to this country as a little girl Cuando yo vine a los Estados Unidos Yo tenía tres años Y no hablaba ni papa de inglés And what that means is When I come to this country I was three years old And I did not speak one potato of English And because we have An international group tonight You know how translations Can be so very funny Translating your life is not so funny Thirty second history lesson Nineteen fifty nine, the revolution Batista had in truth been a dictator As Cubans will say Esas brisas trajeron estas tempestades Those breezes brought us these tempests So we must act wisely Then came sixty one Everything started to batten down I was born in sixty Sixty two, you remember Anybody? Cuban Missile Crisis Sixty three You see during the Cuban Missile Crisis The entire country Well in kind country The entire world watched As Khrushchev and JFK Played an international game Of who'll blink first And we dodged a bullet The entire world Took a collective breath But Kennedy did not dodge that bullet And within a year he was gone That was the year we left I came here and we began again My papi was an accountant in Havana A guajiro, a man of the country Who learned to read at fourteen I don't say that with any shame at all He was an extraordinary man And this is a story I want to tell you It's about two minutes long I loved when all the cubanos The refugees would get together And tell stories When a lot of my friends Would go out and play And the younger ones would fall asleep I would get under the table So I could listen Because I wanted to better understand What had happened to us And then one day I heard a story One of our friends, Francisco I won't tell you his last name For his family's sake Well, Aleman, actually He was very brave His brother had gotten involved Right after Fidel came to power With some resistance Some of the resistance And one night, in the middle of the night As is often the case with tyrants They send their minions out When families are asleep They broke down the door They woke Francisco Paco And his wife Sonia They had two little children The smallest one hid under the bed So they didn't see him The other one, who was about six or seven They put a machine gun to his head And I'm not telling you all stories You don't already know I see you nodding your heads But this is going somewhere Glacially, but it's going They told Paco Where's your brother? They asked him Where's your... Where's your brother? He said, I don't know where my brother is They said, we will shoot him right here And then we will shoot your wife And then we will shoot you And Paco had to make a decision This is the kind of Indecent brutality we're fighting And he said, I'll tell you I'll take you to him Now remember, I'm a little girl Under the table listening to this They took Paco in a jeep Out to El Campo, to the country Where his brother was I took this story from Paco When I and my sister Asked the humanities council To give us a grant Before these people died When Paco told the story When I was an adult And I heard it for the second time He said, Carmita They took me in this house In the back room And my brother was tied to a chair They had beaten him to a pulp They knew where he was all along They started to laugh And one of them said to his brother See, we told you he would betray you Now tell us where your friends are I remember going to my father When I was much older A teenager And this is the story It's two minutes I said, Papi I don't know that you know this But I listened to a lot of the stories When I was little And a lot of times I would get under la mesa, the table And I remember this story That Paco told And Papi, it stayed with me forever And because I was a teenager And I was an idiot Because they're young They don't know I said, Papi You shouldn't have let us Hear some of those stories And my father being a Cuban guajiro He said, sit down Did I ever tell you About the toco roco? The what? The toco roco It's a Cuban bird I said, no, Papi What does this have to do with anything? Just listen, listen It's really short It's never really short with Cubans But it was short He said, the toco roco Is a bird that came from Mozambique To Cuba It's a very strange bird Because if you put him in a cage If you deny him freedom of flight He will not eat He will not drink And he will die I said, I've never heard this Many birds died When the country was first colonized And then they learned They could not ensnare the birds They could not put them in cages Because they would die And so all the other birds Won their freedom Because a few birds Were willing to die And then my dad said to me But a few decades passed And nobody told the story And so they began to ensnare And capture the birds again And then those birds had to die And once again the birds were free It will not be very long Before the hunters come again The price of freedom Is dearly bought And easily forgotten If we do not tell the stories That is why New York A city of trees Voted for an axe We need to tell the stories To our children Thank you I'm honored to host this ceremony For the first time here in Atlanta And I'm going to have Our president and CEO Eric Patterson Be the first to lay a bouquet Just to give an idea Of how we typically process With the ceremony So if everyone who is participating By laying either a bouquet or a wreath If you could please line up Over here on this side of the stage That would be wonderful And then we will progress With the ceremony Thank you I'll just share one other Piece of logistical information So we do ask that each group Honorary consulate of Estonia and Atlanta And Estonian-American National Council Honorary consulate of Latvia to Georgia Honorary consulate of Ukraine And Atlanta, Georgia Hungarian-American Coalition Marty Historical Society In honor of the people of Poland Royal Danish Consulate Royal Lao Veteran Association of Georgia Union for Lao Nation Vietnamese American Community of Georgia And finally, National Monuments Foundation and Millennium Gate Museum will lay their wreath in front of the Hungarian Freedom Fighter Statue. With that, we will close our formal program here. Please join us for a reception downstairs. You can make your way through these stairs here. We also have an elevator accessible if needed. Thank you all very much for joining us this evening.