Letter: Speak up, before they come for you

“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.” Pastor Martin Niemöller, inscribed on the United States Memorial Holocaust Museum.

My friend Stanley Kramer quoted the pastor’s words in his movie Judgment at Nuremberg and received five Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. Today, I fear, he would receive a “fake news” award.

Now they are coming for people from “s---hole” countries. Brown people and black people are today’s socialists and trade unionists. They have always been coming for the Jews.

If I fail to speak out now and my eyes are blue and my hair is brown, who will speak out when they come for me because my hair is not blonde? Who will speak out when they come for you because your eyes are not blue?

This story was originally published January 18, 2018 at 5:36 PM with the headline "Letter: Speak up, before they come for you."