Whether I like it or not, I’m pretty much compelled to read the news every day adn sometimes I read something that I simply must share because of how it clarifies the current situation or for what it memorializes or for how it inspires. Yesterday was one of those days when reading Heather Cox Richardson’s account of how citizens in Surprise, Arizona, are reacting to ICE buying a giant warehouse the size of 7 football fields, in their community. ICE hasn’t said exactly why it bought the building, but it’s a good bet it’s to house prisoners before deporting them. Government officials in Surprise said they don’t know what ICE plans to do with the building but, “It’s important to note, Federal projects are not subject to local regulations, such as zoning.”
The citizens of Surprise aren’t having that:
On Tuesday, February 3, more than a thousand people turned out for the Surprise City Council meeting to oppose the establishment of the federal detention center. One of the speakers reminded the council of Ohrdruf, the first Nazi camp liberated by U.S. troops, on April 4, 1945. He said:
“The U.S. Army brought the leading citizens of Ohrdruf to tour the facility, which turned out to be part of the Buchenwald network of concentration camps. A U.S. Army colonel told the German civilians who viewed the scenes without muttering a word that they were to blame. One of the Germans replied that what happened in the camp was ‘done by a few people,’ and ‘you cannot blame us all.’ And the American, who could have been any one of our grandfathers, said: ‘This was done by those that the German people chose to lead them, and all are responsible.’
“The morning after the tour, the mayor of Ohrdruf killed himself. And maybe he did not know the full extent of the outrages that were committed in his community, but he knew enough. And we don’t know exactly how ICE will use this warehouse. But we know enough. I ask you to consider what the mayor of Ohrdruf might have thought before he died. Maybe he felt like a victim. He might have thought, ‘How is this my fault? I had no jurisdiction over this.’ Maybe he would have said, ‘This site was not subject to local zoning, what could I do?’ But I think, when he reflected on the suffering that occurred at this camp, just outside of town, that those words would have sounded hollow even to him. Because in his heart he knew, as we do, that we are all responsible for what happens in our community.”
We are all responsible. We can’t just be “good Germans” and go along with things we know are wrong. I don’t know what the good people of Surprise, Arizona can do to stop this detention center, but they have taken the first steps. Getting the word out that this is happening is another step. Encouraging every other community where ICE tries to build a new camp or prison to mobilize against it is another step. Lending our voices and our money to the effort is another. One step at a time, it must continue. We are all responsible so we all have to do whatever we can.