I recently had the eye-opening experience of visiting The Museum of Memory and Tolerance in Mexico City.
The museum is split between two sections. The Memory section focuses on genocides from the 20th century onward, with extensive coverage of the Holocaust (including an actual train car that carried Jews to the concentration camps), as well as genocides in Armenia, Rwanda, Darfur, Guatemala, Yugoslavia, and Cambodia. The Tolerance section of the museum showcases how we can recognize and fight all the various forms of discrimination and hate that rear their ugly heads in our society. There was also a special exhibit focused exclusively on Anne Frank.
Vagones de la Muerte, or Death Wagons - a train car that took Jews to concentration camps.
While walking through the museum, I was struck by how the events that preceded these horrors had so much in common wherever they occurred. Many of us in the United States wonder whether it can happen here or whether we are seeing the start of such occurrences, but I no longer wonder the same. They are happening already, right here and right now. Almost every single one of them.
Let’s break them down a bit.
One early sign of societal breakdown leading to genocide is the attack on words and thoughts. We see this in the banning of books, the vilifying of intellectuals, attacks on academics and fields of study, silencing of journalists, and legal action taken by the government against free speech that involves anything critical of the Trump administration or counter to the beliefs of hateful Americans. This literal and figurative book burning is often an early step toward fascism and genocide.
On the left: a display on book burning ("quema de libros") at The Museum of Memory and Tolerance in Mexico City; on the right: a small portion of books that have been banned due to their support for women and minorities
Many don’t know that the disabled, not the Jews, were the first targets of the Nazis. They were singled out for being “burdens to society.” Fast-forward to the present, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., our anti-science Secretary of Health and Human Services, has not only spread unproven claims about the causes of autism, but he has also made statements about autistic people that echo this “burden to society” language.
“These are kids who will never pay taxes,” Kennedy said. “They’ll never hold a job, they’ll never play baseball, they’ll never write a poem, they’ll never go out on a date. Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted.”
I guess Kennedy missed the fact that the president’s biggest backer, and by some accounts the richest man in the world, is Elon Musk, who has Asperger’s, which is now folded into the broader diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder. (“Asperger’s” has fallen out of favor as a term, in part because Hans Asperger is reported to have collaborated with the Nazis on their eugenics programs.)
The disabled have often been subject to attack from fascist regimes and are targeted in genocides for being a burden to society. Robert F. Kennedy's words echo these sentiments.
You might say this is all about words. Nobody is really being harmed yet in the United States in 2025. I would tend to disagree.
In 1938, Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass, was the earliest organized nationwide attack on the Jews in Germany. More than 1,400 synagogues were destroyed, 7,000 Jewish businesses attacked or destroyed, and 26,000 Jewish men were taken away to concentration camps without charges (source: Holocaust Encyclopedia).
Now, look at the damage being done to whole neighborhoods and apartment buildings by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). They are rappelling down from helicopters as though they are in a war zone. They are calling several of our nation’s cities “war zones” when they are not. They use the excuse of going after illegal immigrants and gang members to profile Hispanic people and round them up without due process. And they leave a trail of destruction behind them, both in terms of how they wreck people’s homes and separate young children from their parents.
Kristallnacht destroyed synagogues, businesses, homes, and lives. ICE is destroying homes in a similar fashion and assuming guilt before proving it.
Let’s be clear: illegal immigration is a problem in this country, and people who are here illegally should be charged with a crime and deported.
But let’s also be clear: Federal law 8 U.S.C. § 1325, “Improper entry by alien,” is a misdemeanor. It does not warrant being rounded up, zip-tied, tackled, having your family broken apart, having your home destroyed, and being shipped off to an “Alligator Alcatraz.” It only becomes a felony if you are deported and return.
Past presidents, Republicans and Democrats, have favored paths to citizenship for those individuals who have committed no crimes, worked, paid taxes, and raised families. This is the vast majority of people targeted by ICE. Despite the lies, you cannot get public aid or Medicaid if you are not a U.S. citizen. And you can’t just use the excuse that you’re rounding up gang members without proving they are gang members. We do not live in a country where you are guilty until proven innocent.
We need to be vigilant about democracy and the rise of fascism and hate, because it’s not something that’s around the corner. It’s right on our doorstep, and it’s knocking loudly. So what are we going to do about it?
The answer might be found in one more image from The Museum of Memory and Tolerance. This is a wall honoring those brave people who saved the lives of Jewish people during the Holocaust, but their photos are scattered among far more people with their backs turned toward the camera. symbolizing that most of society knew exactly what was going on but did nothing.
And that’s how hate rises to the level of fascism and genocide: when good people remain silent.
Now is not the time to stay silent. Get out your megaphones, protest, write letters, and hold our leaders accountable. Our nation is heading in a very dark direction, and we need to shine a light on this darkness and disinfect it.
