First they came for the socialists,

Martin Niemöller was born in the Westphalian town of Lippstadt, Germany, on January 14, 1892. In 1910 he became a cadet in the Imperial German Navy. With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Niemöller was assigned to a U-Boat, of which he was eventually appointed the commander. Under the stipulations of the armistice of November 11, 1918, that ended hostilities in World War I, Niemöller and other commanders were ordered to turn over their U-Boats to England. Along with many others, Niemöller refused to obey this order, and was, as a consequence, discharged from the Navy.

Pastor Martin Niemöller

Pastor Martin Niemöller at his desk in his home. Berlin, Germany, ca. 1936.

• US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Sibylle Niemoeller

In 1920, he decided to follow the path of his father and began seminary training at the University of Münster.

Niemöller enthusiastically welcomed the Third Reich. But a turning point in Niemöller's political sympathies came with a January 1934 meeting of Adolf Hitler, Niemöller, and two prominent Protestant bishops to discuss state pressures on churches. At the meeting it became clear that Niemöller's phone had been tapped by the Gestapo (German Secret State Police). It was also clear that the Pastors Emergency League (PEL), which Niemöller had helped found, was under close state surveillance. Following the meeting, Niemöller would come to see the Nazi state as a dictatorship, one which he would oppose.

The Quotation
Niemöller is perhaps best remembered for the quotation :

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Museum visitors in front of the Martin Niemöller quotation

Visitors stand in front of the quotation from Martin Niemöller that is on display in the Permanent Exhibition of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Niemöller was a Lutheran minister and early Nazi supporter who was later imprisoned for opposing Hitler's regime.

• US Holocaust Memorial Museum

I saw this article, and I was reminded of those who messaged me in the wake of  George Floyd's death, to check in on me to see if I was okay; most of whom I had hardly connected with socially except for the occasional Facebook post. I've had to add Zoom, GoToMeeting, and Skype apps to communicate with my high school, college  and other friends and their families who insisted I have those apps to visually connect with them. I was really touched. 

5 steps

For every two steps I take

Life pulls me 3 steps back:

I'm trying to figure out how to take 5 steps. 

Mo Kolours - Banana Wine (Official Video)

Darren Aronofsky

I just got done watching this movie called 'Mother!'  It was completely bizarre and so over-the-top in it's horrific-ness that I didn't know if I should laugh or not, and so while watching the movie, I had to find the name of the director. Darren Aronofsky. I also discovered that he also directed one of my favorite movies The Fountain.  I decided I wanted to watch more of his movies.
And when I decided I wanted to watch more of his movies, I found a quote of his that bothered me; "Casting ethnic characters is a very hard thing to do, but it's important. It's also interesting."
Why would casting ethnic characters be a very hard thing to do?
Then I read articles about his unwillingness to cast non-white people in his movies, namely the movie Noah.  In his defense of his having an all-white cast for a movie about Noah and the Ark ( whom everyone knows is based in the Middle East) he said, "From the beginning, we were concerned about casting, the issue of race. What we realized is that this story is functioning at the level of myth, and as a mythical story, the race of the individuals doesn't matter." 
And so, if race doesn't matter, then default is white? 
This is why, in all the short stories I write, I give people of color a voice. About 99% of my characters are Black, and those that are not Black are Latino, Asian, Arabic or Persian.
I watched the entire movie Mother! but I won't be recommending it, or any movie Darren Aronofsky directed.

My friend Lawrence

I haven't heard from a friend in a while, and he hadn't responded to texts I had sent over the past month, so I called, and I got his voicemail. He had been on my mind for the past week, so I decided I would text his mom 2 days ago. She called me this morning, crying. She hadn't heard from him either but since they weren't close she just thought he was avoiding her. She said she had contacted all her kids, and no one had heard from him. She asked her daughter, who lives in the same city as he (Indianapolis)- to pay him a visit. There was an eviction notice on the door. She contacted his landlord and discovered he hadn't paid his rent for 2 months.


The landlord used his key to open the door and my friend Lawrence was found, dead on his sofa. He had drank himself to death. He had been dead for at least 6 weeks


and no one knew.


no one knew to check in on him, a friend, a brother, a son.


no one knew.