We Rejected the Jews then, Even as we Reject the Immigrants Today

  Was it really all so different in 1939 than it is 80 years later, when it came to immigration?
  Remember, children, if you will, the story of the MS St. Louis, for the day may come when history will repeat. The ship came sailing, from Germany, more than 900 Jews aboard.
  Refugees, fleeing from Hitler.
  Cuba was the destination, but when the ship arrived there, Cuba said, No, you'll have no home here. So, the ship's captain sought other places for his immigrants. When he tried the U.S.? President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration said, No, no, no. Do not come here. We just don't want you. The captain thought about running the ship ashore, thus allowing the immigrants to escape on land.
  But, the Coast Guard -- that noble agency known for saving people -- shadowed the St. Louis, denying Captain Gustav Schroder opportunity to ground his ship.
   Illegal entry into the United States? Nay, there would be none. Where walls and fences and might fail these days, the Coast Guard did not fail in 1939. President Trump sending troops to the border this past year? No so good an effort as the Coast Guard in 1939.
   Captain Schroder would find homes for his passengers, but not the best of homes. They were scattered through Europe in countries Nazi Germany later invaded, putting them, again, at risk.
  The Holocaust is said to have brought 254 of them to their deaths -- murdered, whereas the U.S. could have saved them.
  One must wonder on the attitude of our nation back then. Was it different?  Why would these Jews fleeing Hitler be denied? Did we not want them? Did we not fathom the danger they were in? Did we not care?
   Yes, one must wonder why the U.S. would reject them. Humanity? Vacate the term, if you do not allow them refuge.
  Then, one looks south, at the Mexican border, and wonders at the asylum seekers, fleeing from some of the most murderous countries on earth, being turned back into the mouth of a terror that awaits them. They might not be so endangered as the Jews, but they certainly are endangered.
   Humanity? Vacate the term, if we do not accept them.

(Note: Changes made in blog 1/22/19)