On the Basis of Merit

No image better exemplifies, “white nationalism” or, “white supremacy”, than this of 4 year old Tobala Ellenbogan.
Tobala was targeted, apprehended, sentenced, and murdered by the Nazi Government at Auschwitz in 1944 as a result of, “merit based” immigration reform.
And the government administration ultimately responsible for the policies that resulted in her murder, began with no more than thinly veiled bigoted rhetoric.
Rhetoric that among other examples, included the spread of false and misleading information about immigrants, the disabled, and non-white races.
Many among the German populace in the 1930’s and 40’s considered this kind of speech harmless, or were politically and/or socially indifferent.
At that time, the leap from tactless speech to unspeakable evil was difficult for anyone to imagine, yet in hindsight, complacency and delusion were their only real obstacle.

Correspondingly, in 2019 America, the Trump administration advances the same system of false and misleading information and thinly veiled rhetoric levied against the same falsely accused victims.
In plain-sight of this factually indisputable historical lesson, just as it has with the German populace of the 1930’s and 40’s, if  America fails to rid itself of the potential dangers posed by the Trump administration, the judgement by history on its populace will be equally harsh.
Although no one can know how far the Trump administration will go, its supporters have already demonstrated an inexcusable tolerance for questionable comments with regard to white nationalism, white supremacy, the inhumane treatment of immigrants, obstruction of justice, and exceedingly dangerous and authoritarian-like calls by the president for baseless investigations into his political enemies.
And more importantly, are actual examples of action beyond rhetoric that include injuries, medical mishaps, and even deaths of immigrant children in the care of government entities.
And most chilling of all, are calls by the Trump administration to move toward the same kind of, “merit-based” immigration reform for which Tobala Ellenbogan was unable to qualify due to her disability.

For any national populace, intolerance for even the vaguest kind of religious bigotry, hate-speech, or racism by any government administration must be absolute, and the lesson not to delay action until overwhelming administrative power is accumulated must be learned.
For this reason, if you are a supporter of the Trump administration, or politically indifferent in 2019 America, look closer, understand the gamble you are waging with the future of America, and consider that the single historical precedent to which you have for comparison resulted in Nazi-Germany.
And if you’re not familiar with this precedent, suffice it to say that the same complacency demonstrated by the German populace at this same juncture of the Hitler administration, resulted in the most devastating miscalculation in the history of humankind.

Bobby Duthu
May 2019

Image: Tobala Ellenbogan – 1940-1944
Source: Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum