Last week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security refused to explain its featuring of the obscene slogan, “One of Ours; All of Yours.” Rather than address the obvious reference to a “collective punishment” doctrine—whereby retribution is exacted upon a whole community for the suffering done to one of our community—the DHS simply insisted that it “will continue to use all tools to communicate with the American people and keep them informed on our historic effort to Make America Safe Again.” Further, it declined to answer both what inspired the public posting of the slogan and when it adopted the slogan. Finally, to the public charges that the slogan invokes the infamous Nazi policy (e.g., the 1942 slaughter of Lidice), a DHS spokesperson provided the dismissive retort: “Calling everything you dislike ‘Nazi propaganda’ is tiresome.”
This week, DHS unveiled a new ICE recruitment poster, apparently targeting disgruntled nativists for recruitment. The DHS poster, displayed on its official Instagram account, shows a cowboy riding the plain, with a B2 bomber above, and the simple message: “We’ll Have Our Home Again. JOIN.ICE.GOV.” DHS added the song of the same name, put out by “Pine Tree Riots” and popularized in neo-Nazi spaces.
It opens: “When there’s nothing left, but the fire in my chest … there’s a world we long to see….” The refrain celebrates: “Oh by God we’ll have our home again, By God, we’ll have our home. By blood or sweat, we’ll get there yet, By God we’ll have our home.” The next verse reads: “In our own towns, we’re foreigners now/ Our names are spat and cursed/ The headline smack of another attack/ Not the last, and not the worst,” followed by the celebratory refrain. And it concludes with a third verse: “Oh brothers can you hear my voice/ Or am I all alone? If there’s no fire to guide my way/ Then I will start my own.” And, of course, the rousing refrain, remembered by its “We’ll Have Our Home Again.”
It is reported that the song was originally written by the Männerbund, a nationalist group associated with Germany’s Völkisch movement. Its U.S. revival includes remixes by such as “Patriot Archive” and “Visigothia.” The chant, “By God, we’ll have our home,” has been heard at Proud Boy rallies.
Perhaps recruiting disgruntled nativists will aid DHS in the execution of their “collective punishment” policy. And last week’s so-called explanation—that it “will continue to use all tools to communicate with the American people”—may get rinsed and repeated.
