And I Did Not Speak*

• First they came for the immigrants
• And I did not speak
• Because I was not an immigrant
• Then they came for election poll workers
• And I did not speak
• Because I was not an election worker
• Then they came for the journalists
• And I did not speak
• Because I was not a journalist
• Then they came for prosecutors and judges
• And I did not speak
• Because I was not a prosecutor or judge
• Then then came for teachers
• And I did not speak
• Because I was not a teacher
• Then they came for me
• And there was no one left
• To speak for me

*[In these perilous times for our nation I recall the words of Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller on January 6, 1946.  The “Then they came” poem speaks to the silence of the German church during the rise of Nazism.  Below is a poetic rendering of the original.]

“First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist

Then 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 out for me”

[German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller]