Revolutions are not born of chance but of necessity -Victor Hugo

Most people who know the name Sophie Scholl know she was a 21 year old German student activist who was executed by Nazis for distributing anti0Nazi pamphlets on her college campus. But people don’t talk about what happened leading up to her execution, or what happened after.

Sophie and her brother Hans were caught by a university janitor named Jakob Schmid as they distributed pamphlets in a courtyard. He grabbed them, declared them “under arrest,” and turned them over to the Gestapo. Four days of interrogation later, they were in front of Nazi judge Roland Freisler (one of Hitler’s favorites, his “hanging judge” flown in from Berlin) for a show trial that Hans and Sophie’s parents weren’t allowed in the courtroom for.

Hans, Sophie, and their friend Christoph Probst were all found guilty of treason, sentenced to death, and beheaded a few hours later.

No one talks about this janitor, Jakob Schmid. He got a cash reward and a promotion for turning in Sophie and Hans. The University of Munich threw him a celebration. Hundreds of students attended and cheered for him. He thanked them with a Nazi salute.

After the war, Jakob Schmid was arrested and put on a trial of his own. he said that he only turned the Scholls in because distributing pamphlets was against university policy - it wasn’t because of the content of the pamphlets.

When you think of Nazis, you probably think of uniformed officers. But the Nazis were a political party of everyday people. So also think of a janitor tsk-tsking that someone wasn’t protesting “the right way.” A student at a rally applauding him. A judge towing the party line.

We like to tell ourselves that Nazi Germany was so horrific it could never be repeated. Maybe you don’t personally know someone who would have flipped the switch on the gas chambers. But I can almost guarantee you know a Jakob Schmid.

- Libby Jones (via Twitter)

merry: correct! the witch king of angmar was naught but a wriggling newt unto mine brave and heroic eye!

In honor of 19-year-old Simone Biles being named Woman Of The Year by ESPN. 

She won a record four gold medals at the Olympics. She’s untouchable!

Enjolras: This is like the fifth time you mentioned this today. You know what, the day you ask out Combeferre is the day I confess.

Courfeyrac: Really?

Enjolras: Really. You never had any confidence to–

Courfeyrac, shouting across the room: COMBEFERRE GO ON A DATE WITH ME ‘CAUSE I’M IN LOVE WITH YOU

Combeferre: SURE SHIT HONEY

Listen. Imma explain.

My cousin, who is normally way better than this, posted something FULL of racist dogwhistles and some more blatant statements as well. It was one of those copy-and-share Facebook posts. (I’m actually thinking of asking her kids, who are also my cousins and closer to my age, what’s going on with her. Some of her Facebook content has gotten disturbing and I think someone may need to hack her Facebook and remove some conservative groups.)

Everyone went radio silent on the post.

Me? I got PISSED. I gave it to her with both barrels and, when she tried to get me to back down, I straight-up said “I think what you have posted is racist. Whether you realize it’s full of dogwhistles or not, it is VERY racist.” (And then I broke down exactly what was racist about it.)

AND SUDDENLY THE FLOODGATES OPENED.

Three other people have now called her out on the content of the post. Two have actually used the R-word. I’m having a conversation in comments with both of them about the news report the original post refers to, and how the post is incongruent with the facts represented. We may never talk to each other again, our only point of common contact is my cousin who lives multiple states away from me, but the discussion is happening and that’s the important part. My cousin has gone radio silent, probably because it’s sleeping hours in her house, but the conversation continues while she’s away and she’s going to wake up to it.

BUT NOBODY SAID ANYTHING FOR OVER A DAY. NOBODY SAID ANYTHING UNTIL I DID.

Nobody wants to be the one to rock the boat. I’m pretty sure that’s what MLK meant when he said the biggest danger to Black equality was the white moderate. People are more interested in being polite than doing what’s right. (Or as Fall Out Boy very aptly put it, everybody wants to change the world, but no one wants to die.) I was fully aware going into this that I might be throwing a hand grenade into an unstable mineshaft of a family. I thought about my Black friends on my Facebook, and how white silence has allowed them to suffer, and did it anyway. I am fully prepared for it to suck when some of my other family sees the post. Angry words are a hell of a lot less damaging than police dogs. Or tear gas. Or a knee on the neck.

If you’re white and you see something wrong, YOU HAVE TO SPEAK UP. YOU HAVE TO. There may well be others who are waiting for someone to lead the way.

I’m not saying this to speak over any Black activists. I’m honestly just repeating a lot of what they’ve been shouting until they’re hoarse. The point in this post is to show you a real-life example. It works. You have to do it because it’s the right thing to do and it works.

Feel free to take your time with it, get all your words together so you can cover everything in whatever it is you’re seeing, and gather your nerves if you must.