I recently had the opportunity to again watch “Schindler’s List,” the dark, disturbing, and heartbreaking — and in some ways, redemptive and hopeful — movie about the Nazi regime’s persecution and ultimately its mass murder and “ethnic cleansing” of European Jews in the 1930s and 1940s. The movie does a masterful job of showing both the brutality of the Nazis and their indifference to the loss and suffering of Jews (and other minorities), who were considered “less than,” even subhuman, not worthy of any sort of respect or dignity. I know there are many other documentaries, books and artwork that show the horror of what the Nazis did, but this movie somehow touches a deep chord within me.
It seems no coincidence that I chose to watch this movie a second time right now, because of what’s happening in our own country under the authority — leadership doesn’t fit — of President Donald Trump, who is both a disgrace and a threat to our nation’s ideals. What Trump is doing shows great parallels to what the Nazis did early on in their campaign against the Jews. Not at the same scale or depth of brutality and depravity; at least not so far.
But Trump and his MAGA minions have already shown they have no respect for the U.S. Constitution, the rule of law and the rights of many, primarily minorities of one sort or another, who live in the United States. Already, Trump and his followers have scapegoated those on the margins of our society, most notably immigrants and transgender individuals. And though they haven’t intentionally killed anyone yet, that I’m aware, those in power have already caused great trauma and, by deporting immigrants to a notoriously brutal prison in El Salvador, they have sent hundreds of people directly into harm’s way, many of them, if not all, never given the “due process” our justice system requires.
And some (perhaps many? ), it turns out, with no criminal record. Even more grotesque, it can be argued, is Trump’s obscene “strategy” for the Palestinian people in Gaza, whom he’d like to somehow forcibly remove from their homeland, the final step in a series of war crimes and ethnic cleansing perpetuated by Israel on Gaza’s innocent civilians and abetted by the U.S. That we Americans have been party to this inhumane slaughter of innocents (under both the Joe Biden and Donald Trump administrations) is another dark and ugly chapter in our nation’s history, a horrific national disgrace funded by all of us who pay taxes.
I am encouraged that the federal judiciary, human and environmental rights groups, some in the media and, finally — finally! — a few large and influential institutions are standing up and saying NO to Trump and his MAGA loyalists, and growing numbers of citizens are protesting ever more loudly across the nation. Hooray for the “Hands Off!” movement and others rebelling against the would-be king.
The specter of Nazi Germany, fascism, and brutal dictatorships in any form must be combated now by those who care about our democracy, as imperfect as it is, and those it protects. And the privileged among us—yes, I include myself in that category—must speak out and take action on behalf of the most vulnerable. ADVERTISEMENT — Bill Sherwonit, Anchorage • • • Have something on your mind?
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