Just a mere two weeks after the shooting in Aurora, CO, a 40-year-old white male opened fire in a Sikh house of worship. He managed to kill six worshippers and wound a police officer, before turning the gun on himself. While his motive is still unknown, there is evidence to suggest that the perpetrator, Wade Michael Page, had ties to white supremacy groups.

Many like to think that the horrors of the Holocaust were an isolated incident; we’ve become so jaded to the term “Nazi” that we throw it around haphazardly, as an insult to anyone who demonstrates unyielding views and a harsh temperament. The idea of a person honestly believing the views of the Nazi party has become antiquated, similar to how we scoff at those who believed hundreds of years ago that the earth was the center of the universe. We forget that this form of racist hatred has somehow withstood the test of time – that is, we forget until an atrocity such as this occurs. Rather than allowing this incident to fade into memory, it is vital that we keep it alive, to remind ourselves that intolerance and hate are still abundant, and that the innocent suffer as a result. Too many people have already paid the price for ignorance and intolerance – we must be constantly striving for a kinder, brighter tomorrow.