and I didn't speak up

reprinted from December 30, 2003

Pastor Martin Niemoller, who later became head of the World Council of Churches, and was an outspoken critic of the Hitler regime, gave a number of speeches in which he used various versions of the following well-known poem.

First they came for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up,
because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up,
because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up,
because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one
left to speak up for me.

I want to talk about the important lessons of the Niemoller poem/sermon. It's a guilt-ridden poem, and Niemoller was guilty, in his own eyes. He had been a submarine commander in WWI, and had initially supported Hitler. Niemoller, however, was explaining the widespread guilt of Germans in ignoring what their own government was doing... until it actually affected them... until it was too late to stop.

It's important for all of us to recognize when we've been wrong, take responsibility for it, take action to change our ways, and to try to make amends for any harm our wrongness caused. I'm not much of a believer in "evil", but if there is human evil, I suspect the worst examples are those people who know they're wrong, but will use all sorts of trickery to keep from admitting it and to prevent anyone else from knowing.

Politicians are probably the most "evil" by my definition; they cannot be so ignorant as to not realize that there is damage caused by every piece of legislation they pass... a downside that seriously harms some people in order to benefit others. They know this and evade it like the plague. If forced to face it, they'll respond with something about the "greater good" or "society as a whole" and quickly evade again. It isn't hard to find Americans who, when questioned about the slaughter in Iraq, will immediately use a similar evasion, barking back that "they support our young men and women putting their lives on the line" as if that was some sort of answer.

Intellectual honesty is important, but the point of what Niemoller was saying is equally important... his point was that when government takes liberty away from ANY of us, it can and will eventually take it away from ALL of us, and that if we don't cherish and stand up for the rights of others, we're condemning ourselves to the same destruction.

Toward the end of WWII, when the Allies discovered the concentration camps filled with starving prisoners (including Niemoller, a Dachau survivor), cremation ovens, and gassing rooms, General Eisenhower ordered local citizens in to view what had been going on near them. Did all those citizens KNOW what had been going on? I can't tell you what was in their minds, but there is no doubt that they could have known, and should have known, and that's the important point. If they claimed to not know, it's only because they chose not to see, and that very same attitude permeates American society today.

Ask someone who supports the War in Iraq how many American military have died there. Ask them how many Iraqi civilians have been killed. You're not likely to get a real answer of any kind, because they don't want to know the cost of the position they support.

Niemoller's point could hardly be more on point than it is in America right now. Most Americans' knowledge of what's happening around them is limited to what they see on TV news and read in the major newspapers. Given that, their ignorance may be explained if not justified. Most are probably aware that hundreds of thousands of their fellow citizens have protested against the war. That alone should make them curious enough to wonder why, but it seems obvious from polls that they simply don't want to know.

I've worked with many people whose plans and dreams have been smashed by government actions. They frequently say that they didn't know it could happen to them. It had happened to many others before, but not to them. They assumed that bad things only happen to bad people... only criminals go to prison, only lazy people become homeless or resort to relief, only bad parents have their children taken from them, only polluters are smashed by environmental regulations... etc., etc., etc. If government did something to them, they must have done something to derserve it. They knew that they weren't bad, so they assumed they were safe. Government wouldn't lie, would they? Major media wouldn't deceive, would they?

When such people discover that volunteer libertarians have been warning about such problems for a long time, they're impressed and amazed. They should be, but their reaction should also be guilt, like Niemoller's, that they weren't paying enough attention, and that they allowed themselves to be deceived by major-party politicians and major media outlets that are usually afraid to challenge them.

If you're reading this online, you have the capability to find out what libertarians know... that you're not safe from your government.. You may dislike or disbelieve everything you read here, but if you value your own future you must investigate and make up your own mind. Do NOT make the mistake of assuming it only happens to others. Do not make the mistake of assuming what I write about are exceptions that can safely be ignored. Do NOT make the mistake, as did the German people of the late 30's, of believing that our government has our best interests at heart.

Then They Came for Me (A New Twist)
by Stephen Rohde, a constitutional lawyer and President of the ACLU of Southern California. Adapted from the original by Rev. Martin Niemoller (1937).

First they came for the Muslims, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Muslim.

Then they came to detain immigrants indefinitely solely upon the certification of the Attorney General, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't an immigrant.

Then they came to eavesdrop on suspects consulting with their attorneys, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a suspect.

Then they came to prosecute non-citizens before secret military commissions, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a non-citizen.

Then they came to enter homes and offices for unannounced "sneak and peek" searches, and I didn't speak up because I had nothing to hide.

Then they came to reinstate Cointelpro and resume the infiltration and surveillance of domestic religious and political groups, and I didn't speak up because I had stopped participating in any groups.

Then they came for anyone who objected to government policy because it aided the terrorists and gave ammunition to America's enemies, and I didn't speak up because...... I didn't speak up.

Then they came for me....... and by that time no one was left to speak up.