Everyone says it could never happen here

[Solly Mack]

6. I've never said that, nor would I. Because I never believed it to be true of America.

Look at what happened to Natives. Abused, enslaved, murdered. Does anyone really believe the same thinking that caused that atrocity has been eradicated from America? I don't.

Slavery happened here, and people can tell themselves how that is long ago history and people know better now, but the history of discrimination and racism in America says otherwise. The thinking that cradled and nurtured slavery isn't gone from America.

Racism is alive and well in America. Oppression comes in more forms than slavery and slavery doesn't require chains as long as you can hold a people down through legalized discrimination, systemic neglect, and arbitrary justice that claims it doesn't see color but so clearly does in practice.

Look at all the people attacked immediately after September 11, 2001, and still today, because they look Muslim or are Muslim - or, more truthfully - for simply being brown. For not being white.

Look at the increased attacks on Mexican-Americans and Dreamers. An already existing bias nurtured into hate because of misplaced anger.

Look at the continued attacks on black men, women, and children by law enforcement and the justice system.


The U.S. government committed various war crimes to include torturing people, and then got away with it. Many Americans cheered those crimes against humanity. Many still do. Far too many would like to forget it happened. Some want to treat it as an aberration that will never happen again - because we know better now. Yeah, well, we knew better before it happened and it still happened, so it can happen again, and when it does - not if - when...when it does, the same lies, the same rationalizations, and the same feel good sops will be heard again.


The increasing incidents of some Americans unleashing their anti-Semitism shouldn't shock or surprise anyone. It should anger them. It should disgust them. But if you're surprised or shocked, you haven't been paying attention.

Genocide can happen here - because it already has happened here. (For one example)

The rounding up and detention of citizens because they look like the enemy can happen here - because it has already happened here. See also - here

But we know better now, right? The Bush years weren't that long ago and we knew better before his administration began torturing and rounding up people.

But America is different, right? A nation that tortures people is no different from any other nation that has tortured people. The only possible difference would be in the accountability - the justice given to the victims by jailing the guilty. Otherwise...

Charlottesville isn't an example of a nation that knows better. Nazis proudly marching on the street - intimidating people at a synagogue - Jewish people who could not rely on local police for protection against an invading force of Nazis and assorted other pieces of garbage who were intent on causing harm.

The deaths of African-Americans by law enforcement isn't an example of a nation that knows better. The list is long and the protest are still going on against the brutality African-Americans face at the hands of those who are supposed to protect and serve. And they can't look to the federal government for help either.

Neither can Jewish people. We have a president that hugs Nazis and a DOJ/AG who would love to see more people of color murdered in the streets all the while patting the police on the back for a job well done.

It doesn't matter that it's not all Americans. It never has mattered that it's not all Americans - because the fact that's it's not all Americans engaged in acts of hate has never stopped a single act of violence fueled by hate. Just because it's not all Americans doesn't change the fear - the terror, really - and the uncertainty people live in because of the hate and violence directed at people of color, at Jewish people, at Muslims, at women - for simply existing.

At the LGBT people who have lived with, and still live with, legalized discrimination and the threat of violence to their person for simply existing.


Yes, it can happen here. Because knowing better and doing better aren't the same thing. Because knowing better but doing nothing about it is acceptance. Because knowing better but pretending the violence and hate (by government and individuals) is an aberration is denial - a denial that allows it all to continue. Allows it to get worse.


I'm not trying to offend people. I'm just sick of it all. Disgusted. Angry. Pissed at the deflecting rationalizations from people who want to pretend it isn't that bad for the victims of hate fueled violence. If you're waiting on the ovens before you get alarmed, you're part of the problem.