Niemoller Redux....

Those who cannot remember the past

are doomed to repeat it.

 - George Santayana, The Life of Reason (1905-1906)

Reason in Common Sense, Vol. 1

Earlier this year, just a week after the inauguration of a new American president, I wrote a piece entitled "Who are we and what have we become?"  The question is more urgent now.

That president has shown himself to be unworthy of the office repeatedly - and almost gleefully so - and yet there are those who defend his behavior staunchly.  The sad irony is that the vast majority of those who tend to defend - and, in truth really, excuse - him most fiercely are also those who are most disenfranchised by him and his 'policies.'

Who are we and what have we become, indeed.

Why, just this week, this 'president' gracelessly turned the Boy Scout Jamboree into a political rally - with an even less graceless summoning of a chant deriding his predecessor, no less - and we were shocked and saddened again (for what, like the 97th or 970th time?!?).  But he's an overachiever, this one, so he had to top that slide to a new bottom by banning our fellow transgender citizens from serving in the military.  (Yeah, because, you know, that's a major problem for our society, them transgenders runnin' up all those medical bills the military has to pay.)  And if all of this new crassness and cravenness weren't enough - and in case we weren't clear that there's no low to which he won't go - he ended the week by focusing on another sudden area of interest - in this case, Latino gangs on Long Island - by encouraging officers of the law to physically abuse suspects - yes, suspects, not convicts - which, even more damningly, drew significant cheers from the crowd of officers assembled.  WTF, America?!?  Seriously.

Who are we and what have we become, indeed.

Like so many of my generation, I was told the lie that I could grow up to be president one day, and I kinda believed it.  Not the part about actually becoming president - I am African-American after all - but the sentiment that I should seek to be a leader in my community, especially by contributing constructively to the welfare of our commonweal.  I naively subscribed to the notion that I could help America move ever closer to living its creeds, a nation in which we were judged, in the indelible words of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's indelible phrase, by the content of our character and not the color of our skin (or, to put a modern addendum on this, whatever our 'difference(s)' may be).

And President Obama made me both proud and ashamed: proud that a literal African-American could ascend to the presidency in my lifetime and govern - truly lead - with such vision, grace and restraint ... and ashamed of myself for assuming that this was not possible and thus lowering my own sights to serve as well as ashamed of my country because of how we, collectively, treated this man.  Imagine the delusional hubris necessary for us to consider ourselves "post-racial" just for electing him.  Own the craven racism that we exhibited in ways both overt and covert for the next eight years.

But because positive change is inexorably followed by a regressive reaction, we have as our 'leader' - no, not a flawed but competent and committed public servant as the Leader of the Free World - this trainwreck of a human being - and many days I'm not sure about the 'human' part - who is the very embodiment of all of the -isms that continue to plague our country.  (I don't need to list 'em, right, the racism, sexism/misogyny, xenophobia, religiocentrism, etc.?)  To borrow the title of a damning reflection on our society a half-century ago, our president is truly The Ugly American ... and still some of our member revel in this.

Who are we and what have we become, indeed.

I am saddened to acknowledge this new, lesser reality about us: it was bad enough that we were horrible to a graceful leader who happened to be African-American, but the unshakable embrace of our current president - the very embodiment of all that I have raised my children and mentored thousands of young people not to be - by so many of our fellow citizens often leaves me bereft of late.  And then I remember that despondency will only increase my and our suffering and I am called - truly compelled - to resist.

And I start in this resistance by being grounded in history, including the piercing - and tragic - wisdom of the late Rev. Martin Niemoller.  A leader in the Confessing Church - a resistance movement that opposed the Nazi-controlled and -led German Lutheran Church during World War II - he observed a particularly damaging pattern of behavior among his countrymen, a troubling acquiescence to Evil.  In my view, it is the same acquiescence that we are displaying in our own country at this very moment.

An example from this past week:  Upon learning of 45's inhumane and ill-considered prohibition of transgender Americans from serving in the military, celebrity Caitlyn Jenner was outraged and tweeted in defiant response to the president's announcement.  Good for her ... except that the timing and her response were, shall we say to be kind, both tardy and self-concerned.  As acknowledged liberal commentator Allen Clifton noted about the situation:

It’s amazing, isn’t it?

Apparently, Jenner was fine when Trump:

• Slandered Mexicans.

• Vilified immigrants.

• Pushed hate against Muslims.

• Tweeted out anti-African American propaganda made by white supremacists.

• Belittled POWs.

• Attacked Gold Star parents.

• Made sexist comments.

• Mocked the appearance of Ted Cruz’s wife.

• Fueled a campaign filled with so much hate, he inspired the KKK, white nationalists, and neo-Nazis to become more politically active than they’ve been in decades.

• Spent the last few weeks pushing for a health care bill that will strip insurance away from millions, literally killing people.

Despite all of that, Jenner still voted for Trump because none of his previous horrific behavior was really aimed at her or any sort of demographic to which she belongs. It wasn’t until he did something aimed at individuals like herself, transgender Americans, that she’s now speaking out against him.

See, that’s what drives me crazy about Republicans. They’re perfectly fine letting their politicians vilify or screw over other groups of people, just as long as that GOP ignorance doesn’t impact them.

So/too often now, we're fine with others being maimed by the inhumane and cynically erratic behavior of our president - and the craven sycophancy and hypocrisy of his (Republican) enablers in Congress - as long as it doesn't affect us directly (or, in reality for too many, as long as we don't realize that it affects us).  In sum, we've become selfish and mean.  Honestly, think on this for just a moment.  How's this going to work out, writ large across our society and the expanse of history?  And even if you think that you - and, by extension, your loved ones - will be OK, what about everyone else?

I'll end this piece with the original formulation of Rev. Niemoller's prophetic poetic wisdom (which differs slightly from the most popular versions of it, known by the title of "First They Came...", but is no less poignant and damning), delivered early in the War when it had become clear just how expansive the scope of the evil vision of the Third Reich was:

When the Nazis came for the communists,

I remained silent;

I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,

I remained silent;

I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,

I did not speak out;

I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,

I was silent;

I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,

there was no one left to speak out.