The Nazi I know
At first, the Nazi I knew was German. I had only seen him in pictures out of history books, historical documentaries, and in museums. These monsters, Nazis, all carbon copies of one another, standing like statues in black and white photos.
The Nazi I know now is American. I see them in real life, in videos online, and at the holiday dinner table. Hate is their small talk, pseudo-intellectualism disguises their chosen ignorance, and submission to authority is the only thing that makes them feel safe. What I’ve learned, and what minority groups in America have long understood, is that nazi’s are not monsters. They are normal everyday people.
The mother-in-law telling you that you deserve less legally protected rights because “you were blessed with a body that makes babies”, the underpaid white male coworker commenting on “illegals taking our jobs”, your next-door neighbor with a “Latinos for Trump” flag proudly displayed on their patio, the small side comment from a stranger that informs you of their entire hierarchical world view, the christian white moderate who “doesn’t get too involved with politics”. In our government, the conservative nazis legislate their hate into law while the liberal politician kneels with their fist up on the sidelines, all while both parties are using taxpayer’s money to fund ICE. The list goes on and on.
I wonder where all of these normal, average, working class nazis will go once the MAGA movement eats itself from the inside. Will they go back in hiding? Pretending like they never supported the MAGA movement? Back again to keeping their hateful comments and beliefs about others to themselves? Do they think we will just forget? That we will just forgive them? How do we move forward, knowing how many of our neighbors and fellow citizens are covert nazis? How do we move forward knowing we are sharing society with nazis, who are guided by such hate? How long will it take for us to even begin to move forward from this in the first place?