A few weeks ago in my Collegian article, I offhandedly mentioned a journalist in Iraq who has been detained by U.S. authorities. His crime? Well, depending on whom you believe, either "nothing" or "We're not going to tell you." Yahoo has a follow-up article here

The government's stance on this case reeks of a desparate five-year old seeking to uphold a lie. You know what I'm talking about. The child says something preposterous, at which point he or she is called on it. The child then answers: "I know the answer, but I don't want to tell you!" It's obnoxious. And in this situation, it seems doubtful the U.S. government has an answer at all, other than that they just don't like him. Hrm...I wonder why?

How long is it until the American government starts imprisoning people in this country? When it happens, what will we do then? This situation reminds me of the poem written by Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller about the Nazi invasion of Europe. There are many versions of the poem, but since I'm a Bostonian, I will choose the version incscribed at the New England Holocaust Memorial in Boston.

"They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me,
and by that time no one was left to speak up."

The social fabric around is slowly being torn apart by distrust and an unwillingness to stand up for gross human rights violations if they don't impact us. What can we do to change the status quo? What steps can we take to end these injustices?