Many Instances of Oppression, Suffering and Pain, But Every Time the Same Guilty, Culpable Silence! [Quote - 616]

Oct 24, 2015

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

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