This is not Germany by Ruth Neuwald Falcon

On January 12, 1943, my grandparents, Erich and Martha Stier, were deported to Auschwitz, two days before my grandmother’s fifty-fifth birthday. I don’t know the name of the woman I heard about today who was snatched by ICE from a bus stop so quickly that there was no time for the whistleblowers and horn honkers to gather and protect her. I don’t know her name, but her family does.

According to Rachel Maddow, rather than being intimidated into retreating from their efforts, hundreds more have joined Minnesota’s Immigration Defense Network in the last few days. The Minnesota Star Tribune reports that, “Parents, neighbors and school staffers are ramping up mobilization efforts to stand guard outside schools.”

Over the weekend, more than a thousand ICE Out for Good protests took place all over the country. Unlike the earlier protest days, which were planned well in advance, this was only announced on Friday.

If you go to the Indivisible website, you will find this message, along with a form you can fill out to email your congressional representatives:

A broad coalition of groups across the country, including Indivisible, is demanding that Congress answer our call to get ICE Out For Good. We can’t wait around while ICE and DHS continue to harm more people. Congress MUST use the tools they have to end this lawless violence, and withhold their votes from any bill that would increase ICE’s already massive budget. 

Amanda Otero, co-executive director of Take Action Minnesota, told Rachel tonight: “It’s about neighbors looking out for neighbors.” We can’t all attend protests, but we can still take a stand by filling out a form. As Ezra Levin, co-executive director of Indivisible, said on the same program, “Now is the time to make some noise.”

When they came for my grandparents, it was too late for anyone to make noise to save them. We must do everything we can, before it’s too late, to save those who are in danger from a fascist regime today—which is, in truth, all of us. But this is not Germany. We are a nation grounded in democracy and freedom. Let’s make some noise.