In Heather Cox Richardson's letter last night she shared the following that chilled me to the bone:
“Now these aren’t people that will kill you…but these are people that are nonproductive. They are just not productive, I mean, for whatever reason. They’re not workers or they don’t want to work, or whatever, and these countries are getting rid of nonproductive people in the caravans.”
— Donald J. Trump
Let that sink in.
This isn’t just anti-immigrant rhetoric. This is a value judgment on human worth, reducing people to whether they produce labor or profit. It’s the kind of thinking that strips away dignity and paves the way for dehumanization.
And it’s not new.
In Nazi Germany, the regime referred to the disabled, the elderly, the chronically ill, and others they deemed “unworthy of life” as “useless eaters.” Under Aktion T4, they began eliminating those seen as “nonproductive.” Not immediately with camps—but with ideas. With language.
We know how that story ends.
So when a modern political leader begins sorting people into categories of “productive” and “nonproductive”—especially marginalized groups like immigrants—we should hear sirens. History is whispering, pay attention.
People are not units of output.
Their worth isn’t measured in economic value.
And anyone who starts speaking as if it is… is not just being careless. They are being dangerous.
I’m connecting the dots.
I hope you will too.
For further reading I recommend: Before Auschwitz and Letters From An American
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