screamingtubesofmeat:

sauvamente:

“First they came for the Muslims” is bugging me, the united states been coming for them with vitrol and islamphobia since 9/11 and even before that, like this a culmination of a long and precise targeting of Muslim countries as a whole including the coups and destabilizations set in motion decades ago.

Since the 1950s…..don’t expect people to know that but still its annoying for people to act like this is JUST NOW HAPPENING.

Since waaaaaaaay before that. Islamophobia in Christian Western society is many centuries old. However, I do not think that “first they came for” ever implied that the violence it describes is recent or short term. The original German poem uses a different verb each sentence and is more accurately translated as:

First they arrested the Communists, and I did not speak out—
Because after all I was not a Communists.

Then they locked up the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because after all I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they rounded up the Jews, and I did not protest—
Because after all I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to protest. 

It specifically deals with the complete removal of groups from society and the death of those groups in incarceration. 

It was written in 1955 when it was in Germany common knowledge that hatred of jews had a long history with recurring pogroms and that hateful campaigns against communists and trade unionists had existed since there were communists and trade unionists. 

But the poem is not about that long term violence, it is about the point of no return. The point where a group is removed from society and you will not get a second chance to protect them. It is about the danger of cowardice and a lack of solidarity at that moment. 

“First they came for the Muslims” does not imply that Islamophobia is new or that Muslims are the only group targetted. What it says is that Muslims are currently being singled out by nazis for complete removal from our society, and if we don’t stop it we won’t get a second chance to do so.