Hi My name is Adelei and I am here with Indivisible Las Vegas. I am a mom of three young children, two of which are girls. Early on in the campaign season I had heard murmurings of a document called Project 2025. I decided to read it, piece by piece, and I was disgusted at what it contained. I felt especially fearful for my daughters, who I am raising to believe are capable of anything, with the self-confidence, intelligence, independence, and fire to know that they are all they need in life to be happy, and that happiness doesn’t only look one way. One can be single or married, kids or no kids, rooted or traveled, and still be fulfilled in life. The idea of women’s rights retreating so far backwards to a sort of dystopian Handsmaid’s Tale period, let alone all the other things P2025 contains, seemed too horrific to be true. But I knew through my research that this would be the blueprint for 47’s presidency, and I knew how highly involved the Heritage Foundation is in the push to the far right around the world. That is when I made my decision to get involved; first, with the Harris campaign, and now with Indivisible.
See I grew up a student of the Holocaust. My grandmother felt it important to teach me everything there was to know about that time in history. She had lived right next to the then shuttered Dachau concentration camp when my grandfather was stationed in Germany as a teacher, and I suppose it stuck with her. My mom, who was small at the time, said that she still remembers the air of overwhelming sadness. So I grew up reading articles, books, watching documentaries, movies, going to plays and hearing survivors speak, and having many a long conversation with my grandma about what we read, heard and saw. She had The Poem by Martin Niemoller that I am sure many of you have heard, hanging above her kitchen sink. I read it hundreds of times growing up as I handwashed dishes after dinner. It read:
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then 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 out for me
That poem is burned into my brain. I suppose it informs my actions to this day. I don’t know exactly why so many Americans think that something like the Holocaust could not happen here, but people are already disappearing from our streets. In her diary, Anne Frank wrote:
Terrible things are happening outside. At any time of night and day, poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. They’re allowed to take only a knapsack and a little cash with them, and even then, they’re robbed of these possessions on the way. Families are torn apart; men, women and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared.
This is already happening without due process today. For exercising free speech, for something they may have written in college, for seeking asylum, for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And you can say, well, they deserve it. Its only happening to terrorists, or illegal immigrants, or some other group that makes it “ok”. Im here to tell you America, the same excuses were used in Nazi Germany, too.
White supremacy, misogyny, anti LGBTQ, the scapegoating of an “other”, the dismantling of democratic institutions and balances of power, the taking over of the arts, the tests of loyalty, the pardoning and condoning of far right militias, the interwoven involvement of big business, and the rampant corruption, these are all classic characteristics of Fascism. America is not special, we are not immune to this. And this doesn’t happen overnight, it’s a death of a thousand cuts. It happens over days, weeks, months, years. It happens in sometimes such small, incremental ways as to be almost unnoticeable. I feel like I’m screaming into a void, even with my own family and friends. I’m going to try not to cry today, but only say- please, AmerHica wake up! I know those of us that are here today are awake. You all came here today for a reason, and you should feel proud for stepping up. But we need more. We need the call to action to the masses. We need people to stand up for what is right regardless of political party, or race, or gender, or geography, or class, or religion. I’m sure you’ve heard it before: This is not about Left or Right, it is about RIGHT OR WRONG.
For this republican administration and legislators, I think of a headline I recently read: “I don’t know how to explain to you that you should care about other people”. The idea of empathy is truly that simple, and yet seems to evade so many. We should feel empathy for immigrants, for federal workers, for poor people, for the disabled, for veterans, for seniors, for our young people who have lost hope for the future, for women and the LGBTQ community who deserve to make their own life choices, for people of color who have been disenfranchised and disrespected and overlooked for decades.
I am disappointed in many of our Democratic elected officials as well, who have time and again voted with this administration, whether it be for cabinet nominees or policy like the Laken Riley Act. We MUST do better, and we here with Indivisible as well as many other organizations will continue to hold our elected officials accountable!
I will leave you with a quote from a German woman by the name of Sophie Scholl, who was 21 years old when she was killed by Nazis for distributing leaflets at the University of Munich decrying Nazi crimes and political system. She wrote in one of these leaflets:
“The real damage is done by those millions who want to “survive”. The “honest” men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don’t want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes. Those who wont take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don’t like to make waves- or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honor, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small.
It the reductionist approach to life. If you keep it small, you’ll keep it under control. If you don’t make any noise, the boogeyman wont find you. But its all an illusion, because they die too- those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe.
Safe? From what? Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does.
I choose my own way to burn.”
So, Let’s choose our own way to burn, lets be bright flames of courageous light for those around us. If you aren’t working with a local advocacy group already, please consider joining us at Indivisible in the fight to defeat the rightwing takeover of American government and build an inclusive democracy FOR ALL. Thank you everyone!