The Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center will host Long Island Stands With Ukraine on Feb. 23 in solidarity with the Ukrainian people.
The event, which will be held from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Polish National Home in Glen Cove, will include a candle-lighting ceremony in honor of the lives lost in the past three years. Guest speakers will explore the country’s culture and history, including Viktoria Polusytok, a teenage refugee from Ukraine.
“We’re standing up against injustice,” said Bernie Furshpan, the vice chair of the board at the center.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion into Ukraine in February 2022. Since then the two nations have fought for control of the territory.
“This is a form of genocide,” Furshpan said.
He said genocide is when a government kills its own people or displays the “willingness” to kill its own people. He said innocent Ukrainian women and children have been killed and kidnapped in the conflict with Russia.
Furshpan said when the war started in 2022, the center participated in a protest outside the Russian Mission in Glen Cove. He said several hundred people attended the event, but the center has not hosted any events about the conflict since then.
“It’s been three years, and we’re doing this to honor those who have suffered,” Furshpan said.
Programming about the conflict in Ukraine is new to the center, Furshpan said. However, it is a continuation of its mission, he said.
“It’s new, but it’s an old story,” Fursphan said. “Any time there is a threat of a genocide or genocidal action, we stand up against it. Because that’s our mission.”
The center primarily takes action through education, he said. At the event, there will be presentations on the country’s culture, such as performances from Ukrainian singers and dancers performing.
In addition to presentations from Viktoria Polusytok, the Ukrainian teenager who moved to America during the war, there will be a speech from Ben Napolitano, an American teenager sharing his perspective on the conflict.
The Ukrainian Congress Committee will have representatives at the event to share the county’s history as well, Furshpan said.
The event is sponsored by the center, the Ukrainian Congress Committee, the Veterans Council of Glen Cove and the Catholic Charities.
Furshpan said the event has already received RSVPs and support from the community. Local leaders and representatives, like Tom Suozzi and Charles Lavine, will be in attendance, he said.
He said the event, and the center’s solidarity with Ukraine, showcases its commitment to education and advocacy.
“Our basic mission is to educate young people to change the direction of society so they have a better world to grow up in,” Furshpan said.
For more information on the center or its event, visit hmtcli.org.
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