I went to The Art of Resistance Poetry Show at the Parkview Playhouse in Manitowoc.  After us poets read our poems from Made in America- an Anthology of Resistance, the owner of the theater, Bernie came to the stage to say he was moved by our poetry.  He then told the story of his father.  He was in a concentration camp and was used for experimentation. The Germans took him on a long journey to a POW camp without food and water.  His father was saved by someone that told him not to wait by a spigot for water as poison would come out. The man then saved him by taking a risk and finding him water.

(I am skipping many powerful points in his narrative). Eventually, America allowed him into our country because he had no other safe place to go.

His father did well. Lived the American dream. When he bought his dream farm near Kiel, someone who wanted the farm but did not get it, yelled at him.  Said, we went over there to save you and you repay us by taking our jobs, our land, and marrying our women.

Bernie said that sounded just like these times.  People are scapegoating refugees and immigrants for everything.

Now, that is not to compare the genocide of Germany to America today. Yes, some came here illegally.  I am not going to judge you for shutting the border. However, we are despots to use violent tactics. To have a secret police force rounding up people different than us. To simply not care what anyone has escaped and to then imprison them in inhumane conditions.  Some of the people have lived among us and been a positive part of our communities for a long time.

If you do not care about the harm we are doing, there is something wrong with you. There was a time when we were not a weak and ignorant man ranting, “You People.” America was the man finding a suffering man safety and sustenance.