Dear Mom,

Leaves are falling. Tamaracks are golden. We’re getting much-needed rain.

Sunday, I swam to the island; yesterday, in Church Pond. Soon I’ll switch from swimming in the pond to doing laps in the pool. Temperatures are getting colder.

Elections came and went, but it’s still one year till the midterms.

There are national demonstrations every few months. Remember the Hands Off rally on April 5. You came to the park with Gloria and me, with the sign: “I survived the Holocaust. I don’t want to see another one.” My sign read: “We must speak out.” That is what you had taught me. In times like these, we can’t stay silent.

Saturday, Oct. 18, was the latest nationwide rally. My sign said, “No dictators.”

Locally, there are demonstrations every week, at different places and times. The Walk for Ukraine is every Wednesday.

Retirees, students, clergy, union members — everyday Americans — protested in the streets against Trump’s hateful rhetoric and cruelty, the destruction of democracy, our government’s authoritarian regime, fascist policies and Constitutional violations. Saranac Lake had about a thousand protesters. Nationally, seven million people came out.

But I don’t know if this is doing much good.

The news is depressing.

Climate change is advancing, but no one says much about that. Trump’s tariffs mean China is not buying American soybeans, and American farmers are going bankrupt. Latin American countries are cutting rainforests to plant soybeans to fill the demand.

Our country is a big mess. Diversity, equality and inclusion are mocked. The House has been out of session for months, and the President rules by executive order.

Greed and rapacious quest for political power are bringing this nation down. You can see that the love of money really is the root of all evil.

ICE is like the Gestapo, kidnapping children and families for deportation, coming unannounced. They’re mistreating American citizens who appear to be foreign, rounding them up like animals, sending them to prisons with no humane treatment or legal representation. It reminds me of your story about the Nazi officer who picked up a child playing in the gutter and smashed his head against the wall.

Our Ppesident is sending the National Guard into our cities to fight crime, in spite of the fact that crime rates have decreased. He is doing this against the protests of mayors and governors.

Projects that Congress previously approved are being defunded and canceled. Funding has been cut to important programs — like our national parks, environmental and clean energy, special education, health care, Medicaid, food stamps and housing assistance. USAID, the agency that funds programs in other countries, was the first to be cut. Many federal employees have been laid off, while others are expected to work without pay because, supposedly, there is no money to pay them. Instead, our taxes are used for bombs in the Caribbean and to line the pockets of the wealthy.

Republicans talk openly about their love for Hitler, slavery and hate. The president does whatever he wants, and no one stops him. He lets convicted criminals out of prison when it suits him (George Santos, imprisoned for fraud and identity theft).

The president is going after his opponents — anyone who disagrees with him, especially people who testified against him. Republicans seem afraid to speak up or come against him. Reminiscent of Hitler and Stalin.

There’s propaganda against vaccines, and outright lies like Tylenol causing autism. Outright lies, saying the Democrats caused the government shutdown. The Democrats are in the minority. Republicans have all the power — so how can you blame the Democrats? Yet there is propaganda on all federal sites that the government shutdown is the fault of the Democrats.

Fascism is on the rise. We’re becoming an authoritarian country, not a democratic one. In 1945, we said, “Never Again.” History repeats itself.

So many similarities to the stories you lived. We’re witnessing the next Holocaust, with immigrants and minorities targeted instead of Jews. Though antisemitism is also on the rise. I’m glad you’re not here to witness this.

We wondered about Hitler’s rapid rise to power. Trump has done immense damage to our democratic ideals and our nation in just nine months.

I recall your stories about the crowds at the Warsaw train station, trying to board overcrowded trains leaving the country in 1939. And the highway heading east out of the city, a swollen river of tired, thirsty, hungry people fleeing Nazi terror while German bombers sprayed the road with bullets. There were no screens then, but these images are etched forever in your memory — and now also in mine.

Evil is rampant. When will it end? It just keeps getting worse. We must speak up against this authoritarian assault on American democracy and human rights. Many are consumed with saving our democracy from our would-be dictator. That’s why we hold these rallies. We must continue to stand against dictatorship and for democratic values.

We must fight the fear and hate some are trying to instill in our nation. No man, no party, no politician deserves the devotion that belongs only to God. We’re all created equal in the eyes of God. The prophet Micah taught us to love mercy, do justice and walk humbly with God. We are to welcome strangers, as we were once strangers and love our neighbors. This administration constantly violates these commandments.

Just five weeks before you died, at the first nationwide rally on April 5, you were protesting with a sign, “I survived the Holocaust. I don’t want to see another one.”

We have to stand against this peacefully, with nonviolence and humor. We must speak up. We must keep up the fight.

Despots and evil persist. “Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21). We can take heart and believe there is good in the midst of evil.

——

Yvona Fast is a resident of Lake Clear.