I’m a proud card carrying member of the ACLU. I’m new to this honor, having only joined last year.

The reason for doing so was I knew it would be the ACLU that would be the boots on the ground to fight injustices.

One of the benefits of membership is a biannual magazine. I never knew much about the organization’s history until I read the spring edition.

This blurb got my attention: “In the years following World War I, the United States was gripped by the fear that the Communist Revolution in Rusia would spread at home. Beginning in November 1919, during what became known as the ‘Palmer Raids,’ Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer authorized the rounding up and deportation of so-called radicals. Thousands of people were arrested without warrants or regard to constitutional protection against unlawful search and seizure. In the face of the egregious civil liberties abuses, a small group of people—including preeminent suffragist and lawyer Crystal Eastman—decided to fight back. And the ACLU was born. Today, as the Trump administration threatens its political foes and detains legal residents for simply exercising their right to protest, the ACLU remains committed to its founding promise: to defend the fundamental freedoms that define this country.”

I sadly admit I know nothing about the deportations during WWI. It’s something I hope to educate myself about.

This and so many more examples underscore the importance of knowing history so it won’t happen again. And, yet, even though many of us know about the atrocities this country committed in WWII with the Japanese internment camps and of course the Holocaust, we seem to be tolerant of what is happening today.

We must stop our neighbors—with or without papers—from being carted off to immigration detention centers.

We must be more humane in how we treat people.

One thing I like about the emails I get from the ACLU is the prompts to send letters to my federal representatives about issues I support. It makes it easy.

The ACLU needs our support to keep up the fight to protect our democracy. Consider donating today—monthly (like I do) or whatever works for you.