History warned us about mass deportations
In 1943, Anne Frank wrote that “terrible things are happening outside… poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. Families are torn apart; men, women and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared,” in her diary, “The Diary of a Young Girl.” These same words could likewise describe the mass deportations that threaten families’ safety under Donald Trump’s presidency.
Eleven million people were killed in the Holocaust, about 55 percent of which were Jewish and the Jewish population has not recovered since. By ignoring the horrors of the Holocaust, we risk repetition. As I read the news about Immigrations And Customs Enforcement [ICE], I see too many parallels between our modern life in America and the events that led to the Holocaust.
In the early 1930s, a convicted felon rose to power in Germany. Adolf Hitler scapegoated minorities and claimed his pure white bloodline as superior. Similarly, Trump boasts about his Caucasian heritage. Even Trump’s infamous speech claiming that Haitian immigrants are “eating the dogs,” has played a part in dividing America into “good” and “bad,” white and “evil.”
In 1933, the Nazi party commenced book burnings, destroying the works of known Jewish, Leftist and liberal writers. Today, in America, books with similar themes are banned in schools and libraries. The uneducated are the most likely to become victims of their own government as they are naive to the news.
Deportations in Nazi Germany began with rounding up Jewish and Roma people to ghettos. Soon after, the Nazis claimed there was not enough room for everyone they planned to deport, and the solution was to escort them to concentration camps to work or die.
Concentration camps are prison camps where minorities were brought without trial or free will. According to the website, “The Holocaust Explained,” “The aim of the Nazi extermination camps was to murder and annihilate all races deemed ‘degenerate’: primarily Jews but also Roma.”
Guantánamo Bay is a detention facility in Cuba that the U.S. originally used to keep suspected terrorists. It now holds deported U.S. immigrants. The U.S. Department of Defense said that on Feb. 5, the first flight of “high-threat illegal aliens” arrived, raising an incredible concern as there has been no media coverage of what has occurred since the occupants’ arrival. I find it possible that this is the beginning of a new type of concentration camp.
It must be recognized that the people who hid Anne Frank and others alike broke the law. It is not a question of obedience but of morals. So though Trump encourages calling ICE on possibly undocumented immigrants, any respectable person should recognize how problematic it is to separate families with the motivation of racial bias. Perhaps the anarchists were right in claiming that “good people break bad laws.”
In situations such as this, the most important thing to do is educate yourself as those in power thrive off of a naive public. Read banned books. Know your rights; visit the ILRC.org [Immigrant Legal Resource Center] and refer to the red cards which state the rights of immigrants and citizens alike when confronted by ICE.
Protests are a powerful part of exercising free speech in America. Join in and march for what you believe in. If you identify ICE in your area, shout out to let everyone know and post their location on social media to warn others. Some suggest American citizens should run to distract ICE from illegal immigrants, but make sure that if you do this, you carry documents proving your citizenship with you, or you may be taken regardless.
Horrifying things are happening in America. This is not a dystopian; this is a sequel. History will be repeated if ignored. Speak out for your Latino brothers and sisters; we, the American people, are stronger in unity.
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