I remained silent

FIRST THEY CAME attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984)

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I was not a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

An early supporter of Hitler, by 1934 Niemöller had come to oppose the Nazis, and it was largely his high connections to influential and wealthy businessmen that saved him until 1937, after which he was imprisoned, eventually at Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps.

Here is my updated 2008 version of this poem.

When they imprisoned the "black crack smokers",
I said nothing,
I was not a "black crack smoker".

When they locked up the "hispanic illegal immigrants",
I remained silent;
I was not a "hispanic illegal immigrant".

When they came for the "arab terrorists",
I did not speak out;
I was not a "arab terrorist".

When they locked up the "anarchist protestors",
I remained silent;
I was not a "anarchist protestor".

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

An early supporter of the War on Terror, by 2008 [your name here] had come to oppose the Neocons. Eventually Martial Law was declared. He was arrested for violating curfew when he was driving home late from work one day. His whereabouts remain unknown.