In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death. I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness, I hear the ever approaching thunder, which will destroy us too. I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will all come right, that this cruelty too will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again.
from: The Diary of a Young Girl
written by Anne Frank
Doubleday/Bantam Books, 1967
first published in 1947
first US edition, 1952
Today is not the first time some of you are seeing this, but it’s what I’ve been thinking about for a long time.
In October 2018, when I originally posted this piece, the first Trump regime was finding its footing. Children were being torn from their families in his “zero-tolerance” policy to stem immigration. He called Robert Muller’s investigations into the 2016 election a “witch hunt.” That fueled the Me Too movement. He nominated Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court. And mid-term elections were one week away.
In 2021, when I reposted it, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were in office. The world was still in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Biden signed a $1.9 trillion relief package into law, which worked its way to the people who needed it most.
The Capitol Riot/Insurrection was in our rear-view mirror working its way through the Judicial System. Key portions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were working their way through Congress. Biden brought the United States back into the Paris Climate Accord and the World Health Organization.
The relative calm lasted for four short years.
Then 2024 melted into 2025 and DOGE and USAID and DEI. The Department of Education was shuttered. Money allocated to fund university and hospital research projects was not dispersed.
The lives of the most vulnerable in our society are being threatened.
This is what I saw when I checked the status of the Department of Health and Human Services: https://www.hhs.gov/ (I tried to copy/paste the message but only got this link. Open it to see our government using partisan politics to push its own “message.” Your taxes and mine are paying for it.)
People are being swooped up first and questions about their citizenship status are asked later (usually).
And now this feels important enough to re-post yet again:
One of the most famous Holocaust poems of all time, "First They Came for the Jews," was written by a Lutheran pastor and theologian, Martin Niemöller (1892–1984).
After recanting his support for Hitler and Nazism, Niemöller was arrested and confined to the Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps from 1938 to 1945. He narrowly avoided execution and was liberated by the Allies. He stayed in Germany and worked as a clergyman, pacifist, and anti-war activist. In his 1946 book, Niemöller talked publicly of Germany’s guilt for what Germany had done to the Jews. He was one of the first Germans to do so.
Niemöller’s poem is especially relevant.
First, They Came For The Jews
by Martin Niemöller
First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was
not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for
me.
I found the text of the poem and information about Niemöller on this page on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum site. (accessed on October 29, 2018, verified October 19, 2021, February 18, 2025, and October 13, 2025)
Here is a modern adaptation:
When they came for the Jews and the blacks, I turned away
When they came for the writers and the thinkers and the radicals and
the protestors, I turned away
When they came for the gays, and the minorities, and the utopians, and
the dancers, I turned away
And when they came for me, I turned around and around, and there
was nobody left...
(published in Hue and Cry, 1991)
You can find some other adaptations here:
http://webweaversworld.blogspot.com/2006/10/first-they-came-for-jews-variations-on.html (verified October 13, 2025)
I never thought that shooting and killing people praying in a synagogue . . . because they were Jewish could *really* happen. But, in 2018, three days before my original post, it did. In the city next door to mine.
And while violence in general is declining, hate crimes are becoming more prevalent, especially when victims identify with the LGBTQ+ community, or identify as a member of a minority group. Religious hatred is not abating. I’m beginning to believe that antisemitism will never go away.
In 2025, I’m struggling with how to turn my anger, fear, pessimism, and grief into action.
Here’s my version of Neimöller’s poem:
When he fired FAA executives, I was unaware.
Then 67 people were killed in an airline crash. And three more in a
helicopter.
When he canceled DEI, I was unaffected.
I looked away from my horror and disgust.
When he shuttered USAID and fired most of the personnel,
I called my Senators and Representative.
When he gave Department of Treasury access to the Musk-ovite,
I spoke out to my friends.
When he threatened to de-fund the Department of Education,
I cried.
When Amy Walter echoed Simon Rosenberg’s plea to write and call government officials,
I did.
When I do all these things, maybe nothing will change.
But maybe something will.
Today, eight months later, we are planning for the second “No Kings Day.” We have the right to gather and rally for our beliefs. Our Constitution guarantees our right to peaceful assembly.
Here is the text of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the
freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a
redress of grievances.
For explanation and annotations go here.
The key word in all this is peacefully.
In Youngstown, Ohio, No Kings Day will be held at 3:00 pm in front of the Mahoning County Courthouse. For other locations click here and type in your zip code.
I'm reading John Lewis: a Life by David Greenberg. Jon Meacham calls it "comprehensive and compelling," I call it fascinating, enlightening, and extremely readable. Rising out of poverty in rural Alabama to a seat in the United States Congress from 1987 until his death in 2020, Mr. Lewis is a model of how to cause "good trouble." Recommended
-—Be curious! (and involved, safe, and peaceful)
from: The Diary of a Young Girl
written by Anne Frank
Doubleday/Bantam Books, 1967
first published in 1947
first US edition, 1952
Today is not the first time some of you are seeing this, but it’s what I’ve been thinking about for a long time.
In October 2018, when I originally posted this piece, the first Trump regime was finding its footing. Children were being torn from their families in his “zero-tolerance” policy to stem immigration. He called Robert Muller’s investigations into the 2016 election a “witch hunt.” That fueled the Me Too movement. He nominated Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court. And mid-term elections were one week away.
In 2021, when I reposted it, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were in office. The world was still in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Biden signed a $1.9 trillion relief package into law, which worked its way to the people who needed it most.
The Capitol Riot/Insurrection was in our rear-view mirror working its way through the Judicial System. Key portions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were working their way through Congress. Biden brought the United States back into the Paris Climate Accord and the World Health Organization.
The relative calm lasted for four short years.
Then 2024 melted into 2025 and DOGE and USAID and DEI. The Department of Education was shuttered. Money allocated to fund university and hospital research projects was not dispersed.
The lives of the most vulnerable in our society are being threatened.
This is what I saw when I checked the status of the Department of Health and Human Services: https://www.hhs.gov/ (I tried to copy/paste the message but only got this link. Open it to see our government using partisan politics to push its own “message.” Your taxes and mine are paying for it.)
People are being swooped up first and questions about their citizenship status are asked later (usually).
And now this feels important enough to re-post yet again:
One of the most famous Holocaust poems of all time, "First They Came for the Jews," was written by a Lutheran pastor and theologian, Martin Niemöller (1892–1984).
After recanting his support for Hitler and Nazism, Niemöller was arrested and confined to the Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps from 1938 to 1945. He narrowly avoided execution and was liberated by the Allies. He stayed in Germany and worked as a clergyman, pacifist, and anti-war activist. In his 1946 book, Niemöller talked publicly of Germany’s guilt for what Germany had done to the Jews. He was one of the first Germans to do so.
Niemöller’s poem is especially relevant.
First, They Came For The Jews
by Martin Niemöller
First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was
not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for
me.
I found the text of the poem and information about Niemöller on this page on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum site. (accessed on October 29, 2018, verified October 19, 2021, February 18, 2025, and October 13, 2025)
Here is a modern adaptation:
When they came for the Jews and the blacks, I turned away
When they came for the writers and the thinkers and the radicals and
the protestors, I turned away
When they came for the gays, and the minorities, and the utopians, and
the dancers, I turned away
And when they came for me, I turned around and around, and there
was nobody left...
(published in Hue and Cry, 1991)
You can find some other adaptations here:
http://webweaversworld.blogspot.com/2006/10/first-they-came-for-jews-variations-on.html (verified October 13, 2025)
I never thought that shooting and killing people praying in a synagogue . . . because they were Jewish could *really* happen. But, in 2018, three days before my original post, it did. In the city next door to mine.
And while violence in general is declining, hate crimes are becoming more prevalent, especially when victims identify with the LGBTQ+ community, or identify as a member of a minority group. Religious hatred is not abating. I’m beginning to believe that antisemitism will never go away.
In 2025, I’m struggling with how to turn my anger, fear, pessimism, and grief into action.
Here’s my version of Neimöller’s poem:
When he fired FAA executives, I was unaware.
Then 67 people were killed in an airline crash. And three more in a
helicopter.
When he canceled DEI, I was unaffected.
I looked away from my horror and disgust.
When he shuttered USAID and fired most of the personnel,
I called my Senators and Representative.
When he gave Department of Treasury access to the Musk-ovite,
I spoke out to my friends.
When he threatened to de-fund the Department of Education,
I cried.
When Amy Walter echoed Simon Rosenberg’s plea to write and call government officials,
I did.
When I do all these things, maybe nothing will change.
But maybe something will.
Today, eight months later, we are planning for the second “No Kings Day.” We have the right to gather and rally for our beliefs. Our Constitution guarantees our right to peaceful assembly.
Here is the text of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the
freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a
redress of grievances.
For explanation and annotations go here.
The key word in all this is peacefully.
In Youngstown, Ohio, No Kings Day will be held at 3:00 pm in front of the Mahoning County Courthouse. For other locations click here and type in your zip code.
I'm reading John Lewis: a Life by David Greenberg. Jon Meacham calls it "comprehensive and compelling," I call it fascinating, enlightening, and extremely readable. Rising out of poverty in rural Alabama to a seat in the United States Congress from 1987 until his death in 2020, Mr. Lewis is a model of how to cause "good trouble." Recommended
-—Be curious! (and involved, safe, and peaceful)
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