I Thought Everyone Disagreed with Nazi Germany

 I always thought that everyone was horrified by Nazi Germany.  Slowly, oh so slowly, it's beginning to dawn on me that just might not be true.  Or maybe some US citizens just don't connect the dots between what Trump and the current Republican party are doing and compare to what happened then.  A lot of people are working hard trying to keep a roof over their head and food on the table and have a lot of fear of the other.  We live in our own algorithims and sources of information that skew the "facts."  Yet, we are in scary times.  I recognize I have my own fears. 

Did you know that the Nazis came and studied our Jim Crow laws in the mid 1930's while instituting the Third Reich?  I learned this while reading "Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent" by Isabel Wilkerson.  She describes three caste systems which include India, Germany and the United States.   

I was stunned.  

I'm still stunned and trying to unlearn what I thought was true about our country. 

I had some learning to do. 

What exactly were the Jim Crow laws? The following is from the website of the Jim Crow museum in Big Rapids, MI. 

Jim Crow was a racial system which operated between 1877 to the mid-1960's.  It was a way of life through a series of rigid anti-black laws which legitimized anti-black racism. African Americans were second class citizens. Here's the kicker that I had a hard time stomaching. "Many Christian ministers and theologians taught that white people were the Chosen people, black people were cursed to be servants, and God supported racial segregation."  All major societal institutions reflected and supported the oppression of black people.

Many learn the words Jim Crow in history class for a nanosecond, maybe?  If the right is able to continue to have their way, that little blurb will not be in textbooks, if it is not already gone.  But dive into it and understand the implications on today's situation. ICE is gathering up people based on their looks and throwing them into concentration camps.  There is no due process.  

Around the time of the pandemic, I began reading social justice, anti-racism books with a church group.  I was really naive, and stunned again to learn how the church was instrumental in this systemic racism. 

It makes it easier to understand that many good Christians are indoctrinated and cannot fathom that the land of the free, home of the brave has not fully embraced all of it's citizens.  The Civil War did not end the persecution of blacks, as our government and it's people moved to different and really effective methods of keeping blacks "in their place." 

Currently, the similarities between Trumpism and Nazism are numerous and on clear display everyday: 

Rhetoric and Scapegoating

"Enemy of the People" Framing

Use of Populism: he is the sole savior of a nation in decline

Executive Power and Loyalty 

Retaliation Threats to those who disagree 

Admiration for Authority

I really, really try to see both sides of the current divide.  I read books and read FB posts thoroughly.  I occasionally get caught up but I try to understand.  I wonder how often Trump supporters try to understand why my "side" believes what we do. 

It truly seems unsurmountable right now.  The onslaught of Trump's actions are so fluid and neverending and designed to overwhelm with so many distractions.  The lack of Congressional response to reigning in his actions as we are a three branch system exactly for this reason, is reprehensible.  Checks and balances are the heart of our democratic republic and why we moved from England and it's king.  It is disheartening to say the least.  Greenland is a distraction from rising healthcare costs and the inability to bring food prices down. With midterms coming up, Trump floats not having an election.  What?!!  His degradation of our solid electoral system only occurs if he thinks he's going to lose but if he wins, all notions of a rigged system vanish immediately.  Let's not forget, he tried to overturn a fair and legitimate election and then released the insurrectionists. 

In times like these, I have to turn to historians like Jon Meacham.  From his book, "The Soul of America: 

The Battle for Our Better Angels"  Jon argues that despite intense historical divisions, America's "better angels" (compassion, unity, shared principles) have often triumphed.  We have to turn away from hyper-partisanship and fear and use lessons from Lincoln and continuing all the way up to the Civil Rights era.   We have to appeal to our best instincts not our worst. 

We cannot give up.  We have to speak up.  Even if it's uncomfortable.  There are ways to speak up and not agitate.  No ones mind is changed by arguing. It is by listening to other's stories. 

I really hope our democratic republic is able to survive.  Our norms are being massacred daily.  I'm hoping for better angels.  That is all I can do, and call my representatives, and say out loud that what is happening now is atrocious.  We have to speak up in whatever way we can.  

Namaste.