My mother fled her home in Austria in 1939 and married a British citizen and they immigrated to the U.S. shortly after World War II. She lived to be 87, and it is a mercy that she passed away before she could witness one of Donald Trump’s rallies: I am sure it would have given her nightmares.
Hate speech brings out the worst in people, and too often it has been used to incite anti-Semitism, but anyone – Jew or Gentile – can become the target of hate speech. In the words of the Rev. Martin Niemöller:
“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.”
And so it behooves each of us to speak out. Republicans in Congress who fail to condemn the president’s words are guilty of condoning his behavior.
Go watch a Trump rally, and then find footage of one of Hitler’s rallies on YouTube, and watch that. As Edmund Burke, George Santayana and others have observed, in various wordings, “Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.”
Phil Moss
South Portland
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