It's hard to hold on to your thoughts with the daily battery of shocks that we're experiencing. One piece keeps pulling at me—one visual that speaks to the breach with what we know.
Two weeks ago, after 234 Venezuelan men in handcuffs and shackles landed in El Salvador in American military planes, a photographer took pictures of prisoners inside one of the planes and later in the grotesque Salvadoran prison.
As they were pulled into the aisles, the men were forcibly held bent down like dogs. A guard's hand pressing down on each neck, the men's arms hanging to the floor. This also rendered the men anonymous.
Who are these men? We citizens of the United States do not know. Some may be green card holders or in temporary protected status ...an undocumented man failing to stop at a red light? ...a hair stylist? ...a blood thirsty gang member ... someone misidentified? We don't know because they were removed without due process, as is required in this nation.
We are in imminent danger of losing the system of laws that protect us.
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.
Martin Niemöller, prominent German pastor, during World War II
As always, please let me know what you’re thinking.
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