Many Instances of Oppression, Suffering and Pain,
But Every Time the Same Guilty, Culpable Silence!
(With apologies to Martin Niemoller, a Protestant pastor in Nazi Germany.)
(The stanza on Muslims is added. But it is breathtakingly apt.)
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 Catholics,
And I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Catholic.
Then they came for the Jews,
And I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Muslims,
And I did not speak out,
Because I was not a Muslim.
Then they came for me,
And no one was left to speak out for me.
END
