THREAD: I went to a Jewish day school in the 1980's- which meant that my education was all Holocaust, all the time. I was taught to be on the look out for the signs-- the rhetoric of dehumanization and the slow erosion of rights the precede genocide. /1
I have spent the last 2.5 years warning people. I have watched with increasing alarm as the very worst part of people have been liberated to say and do terrible things. I have watched with increasing horror as the worst people have been put in charge. /2
I have felt my anxiety rising as I see so many people turn away in indifference- let alone those who watch with sadistic glee.
To all those who told me it was hyperbole, that I was a ridiculous example of Godwin's law, how do you answer this? /3
To all those who told me it was hyperbole, that I was a ridiculous example of Godwin's law, how do you answer this? /3
The thing is, if it walks like a Nazi and talks like a Nazi and passes laws & policies like Nazis, then it doesn't fucking matter if it isn't wearing a swastika (& some of them are!!!) Did you think it was only a problem if Adolf Hitler was raised from the dead?/4
Children are being ripped from their parents- parents who are told their kids are being taken to take a shower (!!!) before they realize they will never see their kids again. If you don't hear echos of Auschwitz, you never learned history or you're in denial. /5
These detention centers are concentration camps. Te fact that so many Americans don't care again echos 1930's Germany. You tell yourselves, well these people broke the law (a misdemeanor by the way-- have you ever gotten a speeding ticket?) /6
And this excuse, that these people somehow deserve this, allows you to ignore the brutality, the cruelty, & the horrific implications. You tell yourselves, these people are less than. Americans are safe. But what is your answer to the American citizens of Puerto Rico??? /7
You see, it creeps. The Americans in Puerto Rico can be dismissed why? Because they mismanaged their finances?? Because it's so far away?? Because they're brown? /8
You cannot escape the way we have allowed the dehumanization of human beings. And of course, racism is not new. This is how genocide works. You scapegoat those against whom society is already prejudiced. Immigrants, POC, Muslims, LGBTQ. And it continues-- /9
Women can already feel our rights being curtailed. The poor feel the the frayed remains of the safety net being further shredded. Voting rights are being eroded. The old and the sick are being targeted. /10
And hate runs free. Hate crimes against Jews, Muslims, LGBTQ individuals are all up. Vile, hateful, racist, dehumanizing rhetoric spews from elected officials mouths & so many have become numb. We are urged not to be distracted by it. /11
We are told to focus on the actions of the administration, not the language. But the truth is that both are vitally important, because the casual acceptance of the language of racism allows for the ultimate acceptance of the logic and laws of racism. /12
The horror at the border- the brutality of ICE- is a direct result of our acceptance and normalization of Trump's speech announcing his candidacy while calling Mexicans rapists. Many of us have been saying this. We were laughed at. We were dismissed. We were right. /13
One of the curricula we used at my day school to discuss the events of the Holocaust was @facinghistory -- Facing History and OURSELVES. Because the Nazis were not born amoral monsters. They were people who did monstrous things. We learned the history b/c it was a process. /14
We are watching replay- as people accept monstrous policies and begin to commit monstrous acts. When we do not call it out, we become complicit. And then, to deal with the cognitive dissonance, we must either repudiate our government, or convince ourselves this is ok./15
So-- we MUST face history. We must also face OURSELVES. Because it's not just that we "are doomed to repeat history"- but because the history we are repeating dooms other PEOPLE to suffering, pain, anguish, and ultimately loss of life. /16
In the words of Rabbi Hillel:
If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
If I am only for myself, what am I?
If not now, when?”
What will you accept? What will you #Resist? What will you do? And when?
/END
If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
If I am only for myself, what am I?
If not now, when?”
What will you accept? What will you #Resist? What will you do? And when?
/END
