Speak Out!!!

In the 1920s and early 1930s Martin Niemöller, a prominent Lutheran pastor in Germany, sympathized with many Nazi ideas and supported radically right-wing political movements. But after Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, Niemöller became an outspoken critic of Hitler’s interference in the Protestant Church. He spent the last eight years of Nazi rule, from 1937 to 1945, in Nazi prisons and concentration camps.

Niemöller is perhaps best remembered for this postwar statement:

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me

And that, one of my favorite poems, brings me to today, and a twist on Niemöller’s words:

First he came for the Mexicans, riding down a golden escalator and calling them drug dealers, thieves, rapists and murderers

And I did not speak out

Because I was not Mexican

 

Then he came for transgender people

And I did not speak out

Because I was not trans

 

Then he came for women, and their right to control their bodies

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a woman

 

Then he came for Haitians, saying they eat dogs and cats

And I did not speak out

Because I was not Haitian

 

Then he came for Puerto Rico, a US territory, standing in silence as a comic called it a garbage dump

And I did not speak out

Because I am not from Puerto Rico

 

Then he came for journalists and anyone who speaks against him … and then he came for Americans he dubbed “the enemy within,” and threatened to unleash the police and military on Americans … and he came for anyone who is “other”

And I knew I had to speak out before he came for me

And there would be no one left to speak up

Speaking out helps; speaking out let’s others who feel what you’re feeling know they are not alone. But, we all know, speaking out is not enough.

We know we have to vote to keep a dangerously, unhinged, incompetent, racist, rapist, misogynist, traitor and liar from any position of power.