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Community reactions to the deaths of Minnesota protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti have included “they should have been minding their own business” or “they were asking for trouble,” implying that somehow, in spite of our constitutional First Amendment right to freedom of speech, protesters with dissenting opinions get what they deserve and citizens should be silent.
I recall learning that in World War II, only a small percentage of the German population were perpetrators, but 90% were citizens who said nothing as their neighbors were hauled away to concentration camps. Of the remainder some Germans died for the resistance and some fought the regime in smaller ways by protesting, writing, and otherwise watching out for their neighbors.
Historians (like Heather Cox Richardson) note that in 1945 the U.S. Army made the citizens of
Ohrdruf tour the concentration camp there. Those citizens insisted they were not responsible for the atrocities. It was argued that they voted for their leaders and knew enough of what was transpiring to be culpable.
If our democracy descends into tyranny and you mind your own business in spite of knowing what is happening, you are condoning it. Exercise your First Amendment right to speech. It is your power.
Dale J. Gordon
Caribou