In 2010 I saw a nation fall apart while I watched, saw it riot, saw it burn. I came home, looked around, and realized I was back at the start of that. I went to law school so I could help. I went to law school to claw back any piece of safety I could. I went to law school so I could get involved in politics and try to avert disaster. I graduated law school. Here we are.

Please. Get involved. Please. Don’t let me fight alone.

Don’t split votes. Don’t refuse to vote. Fucking vote. Vote on referendums, for local government, for judges in local courts. Do your homework and vote.

78 years ago today my great grandfather fled Germany. It was Kristallnacht. He warned me, when I was little, that it would happen again. That facism wasn’t dead. That in hard economic times, fools look to whoever will scream the loudest and give them a sacrificial scapegoat. He was right. 

Don’t let this happen again. Don’t remain passive. Don’t turn a blind eye. Hold your politicians accountable. They do not rule us, they serve at our pleasure. If we are not pleased, they do not have the right to serve. If we are not pleased, we don’t have to take it. Speak up! Impeach people! Demand criminal investigations of rapists and tax evaders! Demand that the law be upheld!

And always, always remember that just because you can hide for now, that doesn’t mean that you should be silent. 

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.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Martin Niemöller (1892–1984)