The last few weeks have been extremely stressful for me as a woman of transgender experience. It is hard for me to put my thoughts into short, concise memes, so I have decided to share with anyone who so kindly takes the time to read this, three stories that I find relevant to the current state of affairs. Fair warning: this content contains mention of violence against minorities. If that’s not something you can handle right now, please refrain from reading this.
First story: Arthur Kahn was a young Jewish man studying to be a Dr. in Wurzburg, Germany in 1933. He was hoping to become a cancer researcher at a time when cancer research was barely at its conception. Hitler had been in power for as little as 10 weeks when Mr. Kahn was placed on a list of students suspected of ties to communism, of which he had none. While traveling through Nuremberg on a trip to see relatives, he was arrested and transferred to a newly opened prison in the following weeks. Upon arrival, he and four other men were identified as Jewish and brutally beaten. A day later, the same men were handed shovels and taken out to the woods. There is no way to know for sure, but it is believed that he was the first of that group of Jewish men who were shot and killed only a day after his arrival to the prison. He never had a trial, conviction, or even committed a crime, but he is believed to be the first Jewish victim in Hitler’s holocaust.
Second Story: Emmett Till was a young Black man who was visiting his family on summer vacation in 1955. While there, he spoke to a white woman named Carolyn Bryant, the owner of a small grocery store. What happened at the grocery store is disputed, but Mr. Till was accused of flirting with Ms. Bryant. She testified that Mr. Till made verbal and physical advances toward her. Many years later, in a 2008 interview, Ms. Bryant disclosed that she had made up much of the interaction with Mr. Till, especially the part where she said he grabbed her waist and verbally harassed her. A few nights after the encounter, two men from Ms. Bryant’s family abducted Mr. Till. After taking him, they beat and mutilated Mr. Till before shooting him in the head and tossing his body in a nearby river. His body was discovered 3 days later, and the two men were acquitted of the crime by an all-white jury later that year. During an interview with a magazine the following year, the same two men publicly admitted to having committed the crime, as they were protected against double jeopardy under US law.
Before the third story, I’d like to talk about the first two: Arthur Kahn's death was the first of roughly 6 million Jewish deaths that resulted from Hitler's reign as chancellor in Germany. Though historians also estimate roughly 5 million non-Jewish deaths during this period, it is important to recognize that the Jewish people were used as scapegoats for the economic and social problems Germany was facing at the time. Hitler painted them as deplorable members of society and used the public’s unified hatred of the Jewish people to create a common enemy within the state and gain power. Though he began with Jewish folks, he also redirected this scapegoating mechanism to focus on other minority groups, including but not limited to: Roma and Senti people, Black people, disabled people, freemasons, gay people, trans people, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Polish and Slavic people, alcoholics, houseless people, drug addicts, sex workers, pacifists, political opponents, trade unionists, and even adherents to some forms of Christianity. The public display and persecution of these groups were used as a social intimidation tactic throughout the war. The message of intimidation can be largely summed up as this: to speak out against the established power structure is to paint yourself as an outsider, a threat to the Arian "master race”, and a threat to Germany. To be an outsider is to face the same fate.
Similarly, the picture painted by Emmit Till’s death and the rest of the lynchings that occurred during the Jim Crow era of the South were meant to keep the established white order in power. Lynching is a premeditated murder committed by a group of people working outside of the law, without due process. It has frequently been used as a method of intimidation toward minorities in nearly all of human history. In the United States, the lynching of African Americans was extremely common in the decades following the Civil War, especially from 1882-1968. During this time, 4,743 people were lynched, including 3,446 African Americans and 1,297 White, Mexican, Asian, or other immigrants. The non-Black people who were lynched were often helping the victims or refusing to take part in lynchings. Lynchings were displayed so publicly and without repercussion that they would often be made into postcards and treated as valuable collection items. During this time, southern states were passing new laws and amending their constitutions to disenfranchise African Americans. These laws included segregation and prevention of Black people from gaining access to education, healthcare, and financial opportunities. Mr. Till’s lynching, however, was met with so much social outrage that it helped inspire the civil rights movement.
The 3rd and final story is a well-known one, though I believe it has been twisted through the ages by corrupt regimes: Approximately 2000 years ago, there lived a poor man of color. Belonging to Judaism, he lived under the oppression of Roman rule. Within his society, however, he faced even more social exclusion as he was conceived out of wedlock, and challenged the religious institutions that held great sway over the regions he traveled in. It was these religious leaders along with the Roman institution that were responsible for his death. Like the victims of the Holocaust and the lynchings of the Jim Crow South, his death was meant to be a display of power over those who dared to question the law of the land. He was publicly beaten and forced to carry the instrument of his execution through the city that had rejected him. During the hours leading up to his death, he was mocked and forced to wear a crown of thorns. His crime was disrupting the power structures in his society by spending his time and energy feeding the poor, touching those considered unclean, and loving other various pariahs of his day.
If I have ever found Jesus, it was in rejecting the social doctrines and religious dogma that dictated much of my life. It was in forcing myself to truly wrestle with the depravity of forcing my religion on people I did not understand. I did not understand them because the social power structures I was raised in encouraged me to diminish those parts of myself. For years I heard about the love and acceptance of Christ, but I was unable to ever truly treat myself with the grace and love that was being espoused by the many, many preachers I listened to. As St. Augustine said, “I was searching on the outside, but you were on the inside.” It is only now that I love myself as a queer woman of transgender experience, that I can truly love and empathize with my fellow social outcasts. I can participate in Jesus’ mission of challenging the institutionalized powers at play.
It is commonly said that history repeats itself when we don’t pay close attention. During his campaign and first presidency, Trump placed much blame on people who were already disproportionately disenfranchised by society, namely, immigrants, queer people, and trans people. Much like Hitler, the racist leaders of the Jim Crow South, and the leaders of Jesus’ day, Trump has created false narratives surrounding minorities rather than placing responsibility where it belongs: on the powers in play (namely, himself and other politicians and lawmakers). Not only that, but he has begun to push for laws that will further diminish the rights these members of our society have.
He has painted people of transgender experience as harmful to children, although there is no evidence to support that transgender individuals engage in crimes against children more frequently than the general population. He has made false claims that children are having bottom surgeries performed behind their parents' backs while at school, even though there are no cases of this ever happening.
Trump has made even more false claims against immigrants, claiming they are violent and threatening the American economy. Immigrants are statistically far less likely to engage in any criminal activity than natural-born US citizens. Data shows that immigrants will often work in undesirable fields and that the children of first-generation immigrants will often become skilled in their fields as they are more likely to pursue higher education.
I encourage you to research any and all claims Trump has made or will make regarding minorities. I encourage you to write your congress representatives. I encourage you to protest. And finally, I encourage you to take part in the mission of Jesus by helping your neighbors who are being persecuted for simply existing. Thank you for taking the time to read this and consider my thoughts. This will be my last post on Meta platforms for the foreseeable future.
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