E.D. Notes for the Field: First they came for the Activists. . .

Maintaining a strong social sector has never been more important to our nation’s future. And your leadership role in the sector has never been more complex. In addition to the perennial concerns of fundraising, staff management, board collaboration, and mission delivery, today’s nonprofit Executive Director is called to speak out for what is right in a time when a lot is very wrong.

In 1946, not long after the end of World War II, German Pastor Martin Niemöller wrote a poem that offers an enduring warning about creeping totalitarianism.

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me

This month they came for Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist and Green Card holder who is in the U.S. legally. He was arrested, taken from his pregnant wife, and transported to a detention center in Louisiana without access to legal counsel. His crime? Expressing views the Administration considers unacceptable.

Why do I raise this in a blog series intended for social sector leaders? Because we are embarked on the path Niemöller warned about. If Khalil can be arrested and deported for his leadership role in a legal campus protest movement — a fundamental expression of a First Amendment right — who will speak up when the government arrests and deports immigrants working in the social sector whose views the Administration dislikes? And if immigrants are fair game, who will speak up when they come for American citizens who oppose the government by, for example, advocating for the rule of law or registering new voters? It’s a slippery slope and make no mistake, the government has taken its first major steps toward ultimately silencing us all.

Free speech, free association, and a free press have always been essential to the work of the social sector. If we cherish these tools and, more importantly, hold them as basic human rights, now is the time to speak up. Is there a risk of being attacked for raising your voice? Absolutely. The Administration is rooting out its perceived enemies — anyone who criticizes it. Trump/Musk have cowed a Republican Congress into silence with threats, including the threat of personal violence from the MAGA mob. They have silenced universities by making an example of Columbia, taking away $400M in grants.

Sadly, these intimidation tactics — packaged as extortion demands — seem to be working. Harvard, despite a $50B endowment, has frozen hiring. Few foundation leaders have spoken out. Let’s be clear, this is how totalitarians win. If the government jails a few opponents, others will self-censor. If it hurts a few businesses or universities, the rest will fall in line. That is the path of near-term safety. I understand the responsibility every leader feels to keep your organization safe, to avoid funding cuts, government persecution, and the wrath of the MAGA mob. But the only thing that will keep us safe in the long term, that will protect us as a people — preserving our rights, preserving our freedom — is organized, persistent, strategic resistance.

Each of us needs to make this calculation for ourselves and for our organizations, but as we do so, we must also ask: When they come for me, will anyone be left to speak up?