It is Share What You've Been Worrying About morning in Room 13 at Kia Kaha Primary school.
Chiara has her hand up.
Whatās worrying you, Chiara? asks Ms Barry.
Chiara says,
Iām worried about Mum, Miss.
Her and Dad were talking at dinner last night and she, like, really lost it.
Thatās not like your Mum, says Ms Barry,
what was she upset about?
Chiara says,
She said she doesn't think she can go back home to America,
and she, like, started really unloading.
She said
What if Trump gets elected?
What kind of fascist stuff will they start in on next?
I mean what will happen to women and minorities then?
Itās like they said about Germany
Hitler tried to have a coup and it failed.
But they didnāt really do much about him and ten years later, heās taking over Germany.
And now here we are with Trump trying to have a coup and failing,
and on he goes, no problem, I mean he's holding hate rallies.
Biden was right.
Theyāre fascists, they just are.
And so, like,
we all stop eating
and weāre looking at Mum
and itās all quiet for a minute
and then Dad says
You're scaring the kids, Emily.
So that's all she said.
But what did she mean about Germany, Miss?
And what are fascists?
Thomas says,
Miss, my brother told me that Hitler put people into cattle trucks,
and not just grown-ups but children too
and like millions of them
and took them away and killed them.
Amelia says,
I heard that too.
Is that true, Miss?
Did that for real happen,
millions of kids?
Ms Barry looks at Room 13 for a moment.
Then she says,
I wish I could tell you it wasn't true but it is.
The Nazis did that in Germany and itās just too terrible to think about.
And the very important thing to remember,
and this might be why your Mum is upset, Chiara,
is that it didnāt start with cattle trucks,
it started with politicians talking about people in an us and them way, that's all.
Thatās what the Nazis did,
they put people on one side or the other,
Us or them.
And so you were one of us if you loved your country.
And if you were one of them you were an enemy.
And they said it about anyone who didn't see things their way.
And they said it about people who had a different colour skin or religion or culture, like the Jews.
And then they started talking about how dangerous these people were.
And they talked about them being not as good as us.
And they talked about them wanting to hurt the country we love.
And they talked about it being very important to protect the country from these people.
And to do that they started to take away everyone's democratic rights
and they put themselves in charge.
And soon they weren't just saying these people are our enemies,
they were saying these people aren't as good as us
and these people are not really human.
And because the Nazis told these lies often enough,
a lot of people believed that these others were dangerous
and not really human.
And even if they didn't believe it that much,
they went along with it.
And so when the Nazis started beating these people up
and taking their shops and their homes from them
and putting them into ghettos,
not very many people said anything.
And eventually the day came when the Nazis started putting those people in cattle trucks and taking them away to be killed,
because they believe they would be making the world better if they got rid of them.
Saskia says,
but it wonāt happen again will it, Miss?
Ms Barry says,
Do you remember us talking about the gunman in Christchurch?
Thatās what can happen when someone is just full of hate
and when they stop seeing people as human beings.
The Nazis encouraged people to see people in that way.
And for a long time it was the worst thing you could do to be like that.
But the sad thing about time moving on is that people forget,
and it can start again,
and it has.
Tane has been Googling on the Room 13 computer.
He says, Miss, I found this.
Tane has found a photo of President Biden.
It is a story about him calling Donald Trump and his supporters semi-fascist.
Someone has put a caption underneath the picture.
It says,
Shame on all of you, bandying about the term "fascist" willy nilly!
It is too early for that!
You have to wait until it's too late.
