The response to the immigration ban imposed by President Donald Trump, many have found echoes of other historic eras.  ACLU of Illinois volunteer Rebecca Lipton recently shared with us her family’s experience. We are proud to share it with you.

I am so distressed at the outrageous denial of entry to lawful immigrants and desperate refugees enacted by Trump’s administration this week.  It is degrading and against our most sacred American values: our ethics and our people.

In the 1930s a political group calling itself America First opposed the admission of German refugees based on the fear that Nazi spies might sneak in among them. [Sound familiar?]  Of course, in those days anti-Jewish discrimination was also much more widespread. My Mom, aunt and grandparents were somehow able to escape from Germany in 1938, but were unable to find a safe haven until 1940, when they were allowed to come to Indianapolis. All the relatives who stayed behind in Europe were murdered.  My grandparents got jobs and raised their family. When she turned 18 my Mom became a U.S. citizen and had her picture featured in the Indianapolis Star – as a child I remember her showing it proudly to me.

In my mind, the only true patriots are those who raise their voices loudly against this disgraceful Muslim ban.  Remaining silent in the face of it is the same a spitting on the Stars and Stripes. Trump and his administration should be ashamed of themselves, and Republicans everywhere should be ashamed for them.  I certainly am.

This morning, the ACLU of Illinois joined thousands at the Chicago Women's March. The speakers, including our colleague Khadine Bennett articulated an inspiring vision of a country that lived up to its constitutional values of liberty and equal justice for all in our diverse nation.

The thousands who marched embody one of the most important qualities of democracy – using our individual and collective voices to advocate our concerns for racial justice, the rights of immigrants, reproductive freedom, and LGBT rights.

But no single march can insure the protection of these rights so fundamental to our democracy. We must recommit ourselves to the long struggle to make the United States "a more perfect union." We must pick up the mantle carried by earlier patriots – Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, to name but a few. We must "do everything" and leave no one behind.

Today opens another chapter in our fight for freedom. The ACLU already has gone to court to demand transparency from the Trump Administration. In Illinois, we already are hard at work to add new protections for our state's residents who are threatened by proposals from a Trump Administration that wants to turn back the clock on the freedom to marry, reproductive rights, religious liberty, and the freedom of speech and press.

We cannot go back; we will not go back. But we need your participation to keep progress moving forward. Please:

• Share this on Facebook and Twitter so that family and friends who couldn't march can join us in our fight for freedom;
• Commit to playing an active part in the resistance to turn back the clock to an earlier, less diverse, less tolerant country;
• Continue to march with and support the ACLU.

Thank you for being part of the fight for our constitution.