Member Poem

after Martin Niemoller

First they came for the Muslims
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Muslim.

Then they came for the homosexuals
and I did not speak out
because I was not a homosexual.

Then they came for the feminists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a feminist.

Now when will they come for me
because I was too busy and too apathetic
to defend my sisters and brothers?

Published in Amnesty International’s Words That Burn anthology, Borderless Journal, The Hindu (India), Matters India, New Age Islam, New Age Bangladesh, Convivium Journal, PressReader (India) and Kracktivist (India)

My poem was inspired by and patterned after Martin Niemoller’s famous Holocaust poem. It has been published in Amnesty International’s Words That Burn anthology, which is used as a free training resource for young human rights activists. The poem's truly astounding 823K Google results may be explained by it having been published by Amnesty International, then having been quoted in The Hindu, with its huge circulation, and then subsequently having been quoted in a number of other Indian newspapers and news services.

Keywords/Tags: Muslim, Muslims, Islam, Islamic, God, religion, intolerance, race, racism, discrimination