Good morning, afternoon, evening, and night, readers.

I stressed over writing something about this, but silence is complicity in my mind. I’m Scottish, from the Island of Great Britain part of the greater United Kingdom. So, I’m not American and therefore should keep my nose to myself… I genuinely felt that, until I saw some of my favourite American creators call out the silence, and I knew I had to say something.

Silence is complicity, that means something deep to me. Did you know the UK turned a blind eye to atrocities committed by the Germans before WWII? The UK, and her allies, knew about some of what was going on and chose to turn a blind eye for stability. Silence is complicity!

As we see feeds of news emerging from the United States, they ring a faint bell of the history this side of the water fought to prevent ever rising again. As brothers and sisters in arms, the US as part of the Allied forces, helped put an end to the tyranny threatening international order. Now the faint ringing of that history is repeating itself, but not from this side of the water.

If you do nothing else today, open a history book and learn how the Brownshirts formed and operated, the Gestapo and the SS. We all know where that ultimately led… Or I hope we do. Thuggery at the control of a leader, validated and pushed, that ultimately led to the systematic destruction of a group of people. While the Jewish community is the most harmed in WWII Germany, they weren’t the only group rounded up… Foreigners, LGBT, the infirm and those considered enemies of the state, were all fair game. If you cannot see those echoes ringing now in the US, you need your mind checked. Germany didn’t go to concentration camps overnight, it was a slow, steady campaign of public alignment against those leaders considered enemies.

So, before you type “BUT THIS IS NOTHING LIKE WWII GERMANY” or “THAT’S DISGUSTING THAT YOU WOULD EQUATE ICE TO THE GESTAPO,” just remember: the Gestapo arrested people without warrants and sent them to facilities without trial, calling it “protective custody.” How can people not see the similarities to ICE?

I can also see the “stick to poetry” posts coming, or “poetry is not meant to be political”. First off, I’d love to stick to poetry, but secondly, poetry has always been political, maybe try reading more than your social bubble!

Let me say this with my full chest so no-one can be mistaken:

FUCK ICE!
FUCK THE TANGEREEN TYRANT!
FUCK THE RETROGRADE STEP BACK TO THE 1930s!

And if you agree with the wannabe Fuhrer and his Gestapo… GET THE FUCK OFF MY PAGE!

In memory of Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and those unknown people killed by ICE.

Love,
The Pesky Poet

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