First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
And then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
-Pastor Martin Niemöller, 1946
This week, Donald Trump came for the immigrants and the Muslims. I’m speaking out.
I’m speaking out for Zaid and Shahad Alibadi. Zaid, a native of Iraq, worked with the U.S. military, escaped reprisals by escaping to the U.S., and is now a graduate student at the University of South Carolina. His sister Shahad is still waiting to join him, and now the family is worried she never will.
I’m speaking out for Nazanin Zinouri, a native of Iran who earned her Ph.D. from Clemson last year in industrial engineering and works as a data modeler in Greenville. Nazanin was visiting her family in Tehran and was removed from her flight home and told she couldn’t return to the U.S.
I’m speaking out for the countless others who may never get an opportunity to enrich our communities. I’m speaking out for us as we risk depriving our communities of their contributions.
I’m speaking out because Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail: “We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.'” I will not be silent. And if our elected officials support this disgraceful action or stay silent, South Carolinians will be rightfully appalled.
In solidarity,
Jaime Harrison
