Ever since I can remember, (to be exact, during my 10th or 11th grade French class), I’ve had a fascination -slight obsession with the Holocaust. What I mean by obsessed is that I didn’t understand it, as much as I tried and so I read up on it as much as I could. It simply seemed too awful to be real: How can one man do that to his fellow men? How can the world watch and do nothing? How could neighbors denounce their neighbors? It seemed to horrific to have happened less than 100 years ago. It seemed too horrific to not be something out of a Hollywood script.
And yet, it wasn’t fake. It was real. It happened. And people let it happen. They probably thought that Hitler was some clown that wasn’t going to get elected, and there he went, getting elected. (Sound familiar?) People probably said, we will just mind our own business, turn the other way. Let’s follow the rules, put the aryan signs on our storefronts. Let’s give him what he wants. And slowly, Jews (and others) were dehumanized and became the “Other.” These people were no longer your neighbors, or the local baker. They were “the other.” They were weird, they were less than. But most people just minded their own business, went on their way… and the sanctions got worse and worse, and soon Jews were forced to register, they were not allowed to have certain jobs, they were taken out of their homes, they were sent to work or death camps. and people still went about their business.
Here we are in the 21st century, less than 100 years when those horrific events happened, and the “president” is talking about banning Muslims. He is using immigrants as scapegoats, calling them rapists and criminals. And some people don’t bat an eye, because it doesn’t concern them. and some of them actually try to justify the hate: “Well, there is a reason he must be saying that.” or “Some of them ARE criminals.” or “they are taking our jobs.” People are using any rationale to “otherize” people and create a separation between “them” and “us.” It’s what was done in Rwanda as well.
At this time in the 21st century in the United States of America, there is no room for gray area. There is no room for giving 45 a pass when he doesn’t strongly condemn and express outrage at Charlottesville.
There is no room for anything other than CONDEMNING NEONAZIS. Instead, what did the president say? He said “Oh, they had a permit.” “There was violence ‘on many sides.'” NO. There is one good side, and one bad side… the bad side is the one that supports Nazism, in case you missed that history lesson.
45 makes up a controversial sounding name for the side that is fighting for equality– referring to them as the “alt-left.” That’s not a thing, you know? But, if you’re ignorant and uneducated, as many 45 supporters are, they do not even realize what lies are when they come out of the mouth of number 45.
There are some moments when there is no doubt. When you must speak up. This is one of those moments. This is not the time to be quiet. Like pedophilia- no sane person is going to say “both sides are wrong” NO- everyone condemns pedophilia… there is no universe in which pedophilia is right. It’s the same way with white supremacists and neonazis. In no world is this something negotiable.
A final thought… people are so concerned with terrorists from abroad, well, no need to worry about that because it seems we’ve got plenty of domestic terrorists right here in the US of A. over 900 hate groups, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, all domestic terrorists, all over the USA.
My high school history teacher (may he rest in peace) always said that throughout history the plots didn’t change, just the costumes. We are seeing what has happened in other countries and we must not stay silent. Silence is no longer an option. It was one thing to want to disconnect from politics because your candidate lost, or because you feel it’s a circus. I agree, it is. But, the time to speak out is NOW> we must not let hate win.
LOVE should always trump hate.
You have a voice, you have this megaphone called social media. USE IT. Call you representatives, denounce bigotry. Stand against racism. Our future depends on it.