So, I came across this article the other day, and with it, obviously, this cartoon:
Dr. Suess comments on the treatment of European Jews by the US in the lead-up to WW2.
From JWATERS33’s analysis:
The ‘America First’ sweater hints at the daunting American crisis of the time–the Great Depression. With countless Americans jobless and crippled by poverty and a shattered financial institution, the focus of the U.S.’s efforts were entirely internal, to the point that the rest of the world could be lilt aflame by the Fascists before America would turn its gaze away from itself.
Additionally, the cartoon hints at the anti-foreigner convictions many Americans developed due to the influx of immigrants at Ellis Island in New York, and Angel Island in California. The Depression gave many Americans an opportunity to lash out aggressively against minority races,
What “crisis” might be in the offing here in the US is debatable, but most of this analysis is consistent with the political mood of a large swathe of US voters – enough to gain Trump an electoral college victory in a presidential race, and even if that wasn’t a majority, that’s much bigger than it needs to be to constitute a real worry.
Though one would hope all people would be moved, I think it raises particular questions for those of us Jews who fail to resist Trump’s current policies. As we’ve seen in previous posts, the separation of families violates the first substantive provision of the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (UNCSR) which itself was written in 1951 during the aftermath of WW2 with European Jews foremost in mind.
It is shameful to me that peoples indigenous to what became the US are far less supportive of Trump’s policies than almost any other demographic group of US citizens. Maybe I think of a particular Jewish responsibility because of my history and because of the content of this cartoon, but the problem is much bigger than this. If the population of US citizens other than those descended from peoples indigenous to US land can’t be at least as welcoming of immigrants and refugees as our indigenous populations, we’re fucking up very, very badly.
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