#wehaveseenthisbefore

tl;dr Message+Poem: If you are in opposition to anything coming out of this administration, make sure your statement is of your own experience. Bold, clear, compelling, and definitive.

It is clear there are those in government, the press, and the populace who do not know the definition of "unprecedented", as much as that word gets thrown around these days. Simply put: nothing like this has happened previously, so there is nothing to compare it to. Given that, we don't know how to react to it/proceed.

DT and his executive orders are not unprecedented. The white supremacist behind the throne and their actions are not unprecedented. The words and actions of the "Alt Wrong" leaders and foot soldiers are not unprecedented.

This has all been seen before. We know the historical end results and what it would take to stop them.

As a Jew, I look at all of this from the precedent set in the mass exterminations of my people in WWII, the Russian pogroms of the 1800's, and too many similar events before and since. This is my experience/perspective from where I will clearly be stating/objecting/resisting from, that we (me and other Jews) have seen this before and WILL NOT shut up about it.

Every marginalized people in this country (and abroad) has their own perspective and precedents in the face of this kind of violence. While all of our struggles with the current situation in this country may have similarities, each one is unique and deserves its own voice and consideration.

What follows is but one of many poets that will voice MY perspective on things. I use a poem as that is, what I feel, is my best form of expression. Given that, now is not the time to speak in code. White supremacists love their little codes. Google "14/88" or check the SPLC's comprehensive list of them.

"Fire is the devil hiding like a coward in the smoke" - Robert Engels

Well, maybe not for all

Just those born aboard a locked train car entombed in a ship buried in the dirt/land/sky they called God a body that is/was/isn’t/always attempting to smash multiple spirits into one All of them on fire none of it natural it has always been arson all we know is the momentum

"How can you live like that?"

You just learn It’s NOT living it’s survival

In hebrew school, we learned pretty quick simultaneously comprehending the Star of David AND the Swastika We were taught that neither ever flew above Old Glory One never could and the hooked cross never had to as it had long ago leeched into the stripes/backlit crucifixes burning made the stars shine brighter

We Jews have seen this before our history redacted in soot the rolling bonfires of Nuremberg the funeral pyres lighting the Russian sky and in every path blazed in this country’s inception we have BEEN here We have been engulfed enough times to know the true nature of burning how small it starts how little it takes to spread and the myth that it will eventually burn itself out

Donald Trump dreams of the hearth Milo builds kindling Richard Spencer hisses kerosene Steve Bannon is the pipe bomb inside the Reichstag

We can see the fire coming because we have ALWAYS burned White anglo saxon christians The arsonists have now come for your house So glad you could join us Happy the smoke has cleared your eyes enough to see it too even if a bit overdue Help/pitch in/bail water/swing fists shout Fire! but shhhh as we use this to light our own torches