What Would Rev. Martin Niemoller Say?

Prepare for a doozy of a post.

I watched Nonny de la Pena's documentary Unconstitutional: The War on Our Civil Liberties. I had it saved on my DVR but had not viewed it until tonight and was completley moved and disgusted by what I saw. Yeah, some people no doubt will write it off as some tree-hugging, liberal, ignorant piece of drivel. But the nice thing about it is that it does not choose a political side. It is not about deriding the right and celebrating the left or vice versa. It is about presenting the facts and the stories and the events as they are, as they happened, and as they stand in our post-911 country.

I remember right after 9-11 how the atmosphere at USF, where I was teaching at the time, changed. International students no longer hung around outside, no one was meeting in the library, there was an air of fear, and even the "foreign" students in my class sunk low in their chairs.

I remember all international students being forced to return to the nearest INS office to fill out new paperwork, be registered and often sent back to their home countries as soon as they left the office. We all knew what was up. I was damn lucky to have gotten my green card before that happened. But that doesn't really protect me much.

Almost six years later, with a patriot act under our belt, an attorney general who has turned the country into one run by martial law, a president who takes action before asking questions, and the definition of "enemy combatant" is seriously blurred and flies in the face of the 6th amendment, and I am terrified of what is going to happen next.

I could just as easily be pulled in and questioned for asking these questions publicly and for saying what I have on this site. Not that the fear would deter me. I have always supported and been a strong proponent of the First Amendment. And it would not surprise me as I continually read up on cases where women, children, men and sometimes whole families are arrested and detained at Guantanamo for no other reason than their ethnicity or religious beliefs. Everyone is a target.

It reminds me of the Japanese internment after Pearl Harbor. America's own Auschwitz. Japanese nationals and Japanese-Americans were detained on information that turned out to be false and on secret information that ended up to be nothing. Literally. There was NO secret information.

And here we are 60 years later doing it all over again with a dose of McCarthyism as we ask American citizens (those deemed not a threat) to spy on other Americans....Arab-Americans to be exact. And if you don't, off to questioning you go. The gov't is looking at bookstore sales, library checkouts, bank transactions, scuba and aero classes. Everything. No stone left unturned, no child left behind, no Arab left undetained.

These people are held for months, sometimes years, with no communication, no representation, no trial, no release, no food, comfort or daylight; nothing. And for what? Because of this atmosphere of fear. And yes, I understand the need to be proactive and to protect your country, but to what degree and under how much duress colored by paranoia and racial profiling. I'm Armenian and "look" like an Arab; does that mean I am a threat? I guess all my furious tap dancing could be seen as a threat to national security.

I am not sure who I feel sorrier for. I am not even sure if I should feel sorry. We, that is people from other countries, come to this one with the expectation of freedom on many levels and what we end up with is the same shit we faced in our previous homes. Nothing changes. There is an economy of fear and suspicion that informs everything we do and don't say and do. Even the things we are "allowed" to consume through the media is colored by this American Paranoia. Talk about your zeitgeist.

And spare me the American pride crap because I have seen where that leads people and situations. What is American pride nowadays? Being ethnocentric and wholly ignorant? Can you really be that surprised that we are a joke to other countries? The supposed superpower peeing in the corner and whimpering at the slightest noise outside the house?

ACLU Attorney Stephen Rohde sums it up best in his take on Rev. M.N.'s original quote/poem. This is so relevant to where we are today as a country, a national identity and a people, and everything he says, is true:

First they came for the Muslims and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Muslim.

Then they came for the immigrants detaining them indefinitely solely upon the certification of the Attorney General and I didn't speak up because I wasn't an immigrant.

Then they came to eavesdrop on suspects consulting with their attorneys and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a suspect.

Then they came to prosecute non-citizens before secret military commissions, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a non-citizen.

Then they came to enter homes and offices for unannounced "sneak and peek" searches and I didn't speak up because I had nothing to hide.

Then they came to reinstate Cointelpro and resume the infiltration and surveillance of domestic religious and political groups and I didn't speak up because I no longer participated in any groups.

Then they came to arrest American citizens and hold them indefinitely without any charges and without access to lawyers, and I didn't speak up because I would never be arrested.

Then they came to institute TIPS, the " Terrorism Information and Prevention System," recruiting citizens to spy on other citizens, and I didn't speak up because I was afraid.

Then they came to institute Total Information Awareness, collecting private data on every man, woman and child in America, and I didn't speak up because I couldn't do anything about it.

Then they came for immigrants and students from selective countries luring them under the requirement of "special registration" as a ruse to seize them and detain them, and I didn't speak up because I was not required to register.

Then they came for anyone who objected to government policy because it only aided the terrorists and gave ammunition to America's enemies and I didn't speak up . . . because I didn't speak up.

Then they came for me and by that time no one was left to speak up.