Molly and I have often said over the past two years that we need to get strong internally first so that we can become a good ally to other pieces of a broad movement for justice. But the moment has come to us, ready or not.
My mother’s family is Jewish, from Eastern Europe.
I’m not writing this to create a panic or to suggest that concentration camps are in America’s future. I just want us to remember how easily we can turn against one another, and how deadly the consequences can be. The kind of scapegoating that pervaded the presidential campaign creates a hate that destroys and then moves on. It needs new places to go, new targets to feast on. We’ve got to stop it in its tracks before it can take hold.
Even as we continue to focus on education, 482Forward will speak out against hate wherever we see it, against discrimination, against whatever violates the core principles of our democracy. We will speak out on behalf of respect and love for humanity everywhere.
First 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 for me.
-Martin Niemöller