- America!
The land of the free,
the home of the Brave!
Give me your tired and your poor!
We were the first to the moon,
we invented Rock 'n Roll!
We have a Beyonce!
We made Nazis!
I'm sorry, what did I just read?
These were non-refundable.
Yes, Captain America
punched Nazis in his day,
but a lesser known part of history?
Hitler's Nazi Party
wrote almost all of their
anti-Jewish laws based off
of our own Jim Crow Laws.
And if you're like me and heard that fact
and tore through your old
High School history book
to find that chapter you
probably faked sick during
but came up with nothing,
don't worry, you're not alone.
Liars, all of you!
Liars!
Why are you lying to me?!
Oh, no, I like that chapter.
That's women's rights.
Agh!
But for real, there's
a lot of talk right now
about remembering our American history
and not erasing it, well,
here's the real history lesson
our books have been erasing.
First, let's start with Hitler
and the Nazi Party's
attitude towards America.
There were many things about
America that they hated,
including our innovation,
go-get 'em attitude,
and the, hey immigrants, come on over!
He hated all of that.
But he did not hate our racism.
Oh, and our Walt Disney.
Although he may have just been reading
into Snow White's name
just a little too much.
Hitler saw the United States
as a potential future ally.
America was a master at
creating second class citizens
despite our freedom for all attitude.
In Hitler's eyes, we were
the most advanced country
when it came to legal discrimination,
and he admired our endeavor to keep
the Nordic race on top.
On September 15th, 1935, Hitler
met with his top advisers
to draft what would
become the Nuremberg Laws,
which would strip
millions of Jewish people
of their civil rights.
During the meeting, Hitler
and his top advisers
looked at the United State's Jim Crow laws
as guidance to draft legislation.
Hitler was super interested
in how we successfully
implemented laws that prevented
interracial marriages.
He also thought we did a super
good job telling people apart
so we could be more easily
racist towards on another.
Specifically, they copied two
of America's Jim Crow Laws,
the Miscegenation laws,
which prohibited members
of different races from marrying,
and the one drop rule,
which stated that anyone
with one drop of black
ancestry was considered black.
Hitler saw that and was like hell yeah,
can I have some of that please?
As long as there isn't a drop
of non white blood in it,
thank you so much, thank you.
So yeah, we made Nazis.
Also the guy who made sea
monkeys, Harold Nathan Braunhut,
was a white supremacist.
So, yeah, if that doesn't
just ruin your day.
Sea monkeys, man, sucks.
So yes, Hitler may have
loved us for perfecting
the marginalization of large
groups within the confines
of the law, but, as I said earlier,
Hitler also hated us.
He hated our innovation,
our American Spirit,
he hated our land of immigrants.
And, believe it or not,
those are exactly the things
that United us to not only beat Hitler,
but also sow the seeds of
the Civil Rights Movement.
America entered the war, which sparked
the Double V Campaign.
It's aim was to gain victory
abroad against the Nazis,
and victory here at home
against Jim Crow laws.
This was a huge step towards
the Civil Rights Movement.
America also accepted Jewish
immigrants into the country.
Many of them still faced
anti-Semitism here in the states
and went to teach in the South
in predominately black schools.
So German racism and
terrible American racism
brought these groups
together, and those professors
taught ideas that would be integral
to the social movement of the 60s.
It's a lot easier to
write jokes for things
that aren't sad, like
Gremlins, thanks Dan.
So yeah, we kinda made Nazis.
But then also we Captain America
punched them into oblivion
and those who were
oppressed came to America
to nudge us towards the
Civil Rights Movement,
one of the most American things
to ever happen in America,
and championed rights for
those affected by Jim Crow
and women and immigrants
and Native Americans
and pretty much every person
here in the United States.
Not only that, but looking at the
White Nationalist movement today?
Nothing they have to say is new.
It's just a reiteration of ideas
that regurgitate themselves
every few years to give
power to the few at the top
who would rather see
us angry at each other
and blame each other for
our misfortune than being
angry at the people who own 1%
of all the economy's wealth.
And if you're a white
Nationalist watching this,
and you think hey, Hitler wasn't wrong,
he had the right idea.
You know that Hitler also
thought that you guys came
from the underwater
city of Atlantis, right?
Like, that's the best
he could come up with
as to why you were better
than everyone else.
Because you come from a mystical
land of glittery mermaids.
But hey if you think he was right,
go ahead and go look for Atlantis.
Just walk right into that ocean.
Without any life preservers.
Just keep going, don't turn around.
Call me when you find
it, thank you so much.
So there you go!
Knowing our real history is important.
Otherwise we don't see how
oppressive systems are connected
or how America can rise to the occasion,
toppling these oppressive
systems and creating a newer,
better society afterwards
even if it's only one step at a time.
America!
The Civil Rights Movement,
the Stonewall Riots!
Beyonce, we get to have a Beyonce!
Not sure how I feel about
Walt Disney anymore.
The women's suffrage movement!
Beyonce, guys!
Oh, sea monkeys though, yeah.
Sea monkeys is the bummer.
That still hurts, but America.
Yay.
