Abdullahi Ahmed, Ed.D., of Portland is a naturalized citizen who came to the U.S. as a refugee from Somalia. He has worked for the Portland Public Schools since 2001.

We are watching oppression take shape in real time. It rarely begins with laws, uniforms or detention centers. It begins with language. A community is labeled, mocked or spoken about as a threat — called “garbage,” as the president has done — before the actual mistreatment begins.

When such words come from people in power in the name of the state, they are not harmless rhetoric; they are signals. History shows us, again and again, where that path leads. When dehumanizing language is followed by government action — profiling, surveillance, unjust detention or even kidnapping — it ceases to be abstract. It becomes policy. It becomes fear. And it results in real harm to real people.

Silence in moments like this is not neutrality. Silence is permission. Across the United States, immigrant communities are once again being targeted through reckless, false and inflammatory rhetoric.

The Somali community has been placed squarely in the crosshairs. Statements from the Trump administration traffic in misinformation, portray Somalis as dangerous or un-American and strip away their humanity. When leaders lie about entire communities, they legitimize fear and invite others to treat those communities as less deserving of safety, dignity and protection.

This pattern is not new — and that is precisely what makes it so alarming. This is not the first time the president has labeled entire communities with criminality. He infamously described Mexican immigrants as “rapists,” language that casts an entire community as criminals, justifies aggressive enforcement and fuels violence against them. The strategy is familiar: dehumanize first, then punish.

History reminds us that African Americans and Indigenous Americans, Italians, French Canadians, Irish, Japanese Americans and countless other immigrant groups were once described in strikingly similar terms: criminal, disloyal, unfit, a burden on society. Those lies paved the way for discrimination, exclusion, surveillance and violence. In some cases, they led to internment and deportation. Time and again, the state acted first with words, then with force.

We say “never again,” yet we find ourselves watching the same script unfold.

Somalis — among many immigrant communities in the United States, and particularly Somalis in Minnesota — are not a threat. They are neighbors, workers, business owners, educators, health care professionals, drivers, caregivers and students. Somali refugees rebuilt their lives after surviving civil war and displacement. They rebuilt neighborhoods, launched businesses, paid taxes, raised families and strengthened the social and economic fabric of Minnesota and the nation.

They contribute not despite who they are, but because of who they are: resilient, community-oriented and deeply invested in the places they now call home. Spreading false information about Somalis is not merely irresponsible; it is dangerous. When the government dehumanizes a group of people, it places their lives at risk. It emboldens harassment, hate crimes, and discriminatory enforcement. It sends a clear message about whose lives are valued and whose are expendable.

We should be clear about what this moment is and what it is not. This is not about partisan politics. It is not about Senate seats, governor’s races or party control. It is about the real, immediate safety of people and their families. When the state normalizes dehumanization, the consequences are measured in fear, trauma and violence — not election results.

Silence will not protect us. Neutrality will not save us. The erosion of rights has never stopped with one community. History teaches us that once a society accepts the dehumanization of one group, the circle of exclusion only widens.

If we care about justice, human dignity and the kind of country we are leaving to our children, we must speak now — before harm becomes routine and cruelty becomes policy. The moment to speak up is not after the damage is done. The moment is now.