Ep 320: Ordinary Heroes with Bernie Furshpan and guest Jill Santiago on hmTv

Ordinary Heroes Ep. 320

Guest: Jill Santiago, Director, Center for Social Justice & Human Understanding, Suffolk County Community College

In this powerful episode of Ordinary Heroes, host Bernie Furshpan sits down with educator and advocate Jill Santiago, a fierce champion for Holocaust education, tolerance, and human dignity at Suffolk County Community College.

Together, they explore the responsibility we share to confront rising hate, teach empathy through survivor testimony, and inspire young people to become upstanders in a world that desperately needs moral courage. From the importance of civic duty to the dangers of apathy, propaganda, and modern misinformation, this conversation connects history’s lessons to today’s urgent realities.

Jill and Bernie remind us that while hatred spreads quickly, kindness and humanity can move faster when we choose to act. Ordinary people have always held the power to change history—and the next generation holds that power now.

Listen, reflect, and feel inspired to do your part. Because extraordinary heroes aren’t born… they rise when the moment calls.

Transcript

Ordinary Heroes – Episode 320
Host: Bernie Furshpan
Guest: Jill Santiago, Director, Center for Social Justice & Human Understanding, Suffolk County Community College

Bernie:
Hello and welcome back to HMTV. I'm Bernie Furshpan, host of Ordinary Heroes here at the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center. Thank you so much for joining us today. I have a very special guest, a new friend and a colleague in this mission of educating young people about tolerance, justice, and human dignity. She does extraordinary work in a parallel space right here on Long Island. My guest today is Jill Santiago. Jill, thanks so much for joining us.

Jill:
Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.

Bernie:
We’re going to talk about shared values between Suffolk County Community College and our center here, and specifically the Center for Social Justice and Human Understanding at the Huntington Library, which you direct. Tell folks a little bit about your role.

Jill:
Sure. I serve as the Director for the Center for Social Justice and Human Understanding, which oversees a collection of Holocaust artifacts. Back in 2003, the college received a very large donation from a private donor named Andrew Lipett, who had collected artifacts for his personal collection. A trustee encouraged him to consider donating them so students and the community could learn from them. I feel incredibly lucky to share this collection—both with college students, roughly 800 each semester, and with high school groups throughout the year.

I oversee the artifact collection, run academic programs, support college seminar classes, and lead high school conferences as well. It’s meaningful work.

Bernie:
That’s wonderful. And your center’s full name is long—just like ours.

Jill:
Yes, the Center for Social Justice and Human Understanding. A mouthful, but it reflects the mission.

Bernie:
Exactly. People think places like ours are just Holocaust museums. They’re not. They are education centers rooted in Holocaust memory, but committed to broader issues of tolerance and justice.

Jill:
Absolutely. Our mission broadened in 2016. Everything is still anchored in Holocaust education, but we address a wide range of social justice issues. We serve as a landing place for undocumented students, LGBTQ students, or anyone who needs to feel seen, safe, and supported. It is about belonging. I take that role very seriously.

Bernie:
We share that duty. People ask me why we still talk about the Holocaust 80 years later. It’s because it remains the clearest, most documented roadmap of how hatred and apathy destroy societies.

Jill:
So true. And apathy is dangerous.

Bernie:
Eighty to eighty-five percent of society stays silent when injustice rises. There are genocides happening right now. Many people don’t even know. Holocaust education gives students the lens to recognize the danger of silence, and we want them to build empathy. How do you teach empathy?

Jill:
Survivor testimony is key. We filmed hours of survivor testimony years ago, and students connect deeply with personal stories. We humanize the history. For example, we have a collage of pre-war Jewish family photos that came to us in a shoe box. We framed them so students can see real faces and everyday moments. Then we show the book “Every Single One Was Someone,” with the word “Jew” repeated page after page. Students gasp. They get chills. It humanizes the number six million.

Bernie:
Yes. The scale becomes real. I tell students one and a half million children were murdered—that’s the population of Suffolk County. Not collateral damage. Intentional murder. And we live on one small planet. We must do better.

Jill:
We are more alike than different. I start tours with the UN definition of genocide, and I point out that the only thing the Nazis didn’t do was forcibly transfer children to another group… because they chose to kill them instead. These were ordinary people manipulated into doing extraordinary evil.

Bernie:
Students get emotional here too. It activates them. We don’t want that spark to fade. How do you encourage upstander behavior?

Jill:
For high schoolers, follow-up can be tricky; we may only see them once. So we empower teachers to continue the work back in their schools. We send students and educators home with actionable ideas to foster kindness, advocacy, and awareness.

Bernie:
Today is election day. Civic responsibility is part of moral education. Young people need to understand their vote isn’t just about them. It's about everyone.

Jill:
I teach college students, many voting for the first time. Some feel disconnected or disillusioned with the system. My job is to remind them that they have a voice, and their choices shape the community.

Bernie:
History repeats itself. If we truly learned from history, there wouldn’t be war. Words lead to hatred; hatred leads to violence; violence can be sanctioned by governments. Fifty million people have been killed in genocides since the Holocaust. Technology and propaganda spread faster today than ever.

Jill:
Exactly. One click leads to more extreme content. Algorithms feed division, not morality. There’s a great book called The Chaos Machine about how social media is reshaping thinking and radicalization. It is frighteningly easy to fall into those traps.

Bernie:
Yet we can collaborate across institutions to counter it. It takes a village. And thankfully most people are good. It is just like cancer—one malignant cell can influence healthy ones. We must act before toxic ideas metastasize.

Jill:
Yes, and we always end tours by highlighting rescuers and resisters like Nicholas Winton. Ordinary people with no power, no platform, who simply chose humanity. There are far more good people than extremists. Goodness just needs to be activated.

Bernie:
Exactly. The vast majority are decent, and we must awaken that decency. Our parents’ generation believed “never again” was permanent. They’d be shocked to see today’s climate. These are the warning signs. And young people must help swing the pendulum back toward compassion.

Jill:
Education gives me hope. Young people want a peaceful, accepting world. Our job is to inspire them to believe in it and take responsibility.

Bernie:
And they do. We end tours with reflection: what they learned, what silence costs, what leadership demands. History is a formula. Today’s election is a perfect example. Civic duty plus informed thinking equals a healthier society.

Jill:
Exactly.

Bernie:
Jill, this was a wonderful conversation. Thank you. I am grateful for your time and for the work you are doing. I look forward to collaborating with you.

Jill:
Same here. Thank you so much for having me.

Bernie:
My new friend, Jill Santiago. Thank you all for tuning in to Ordinary Heroes. Jill is not just an ordinary hero, she is extraordinary and doing important work in our community. If you enjoyed today’s conversation, check out our other series on HMTV. Subscribe, share, and stay connected for more meaningful discussions. Until next time.