Allyship and the Anne Frank question

I was watching a TikTok video by Texas artist Soren Pendragon castigating those who claim to be allies of the LGBTQ+ community, but they back away at the slightest threat (à la Target). He describes them as those who fly the Pride flag 1/12 of the year and go back to their lives, while the LGBTQ+ community has to deal with attacks and repressive legislation all year.

I completely agree with Soren. As I wrote last year, I don’t have the right to declare myself an ally. The people in those communities know who is truly on their side and who isn’t. But his video got me thinking about Anne Frank.

When I first learned about the Holocaust in school (back when they could teach about the Holocaust, and everyone agreed Nazis were evil), we read Anne Frank’s diary and learned how she and her family were hidden by employees at her father’s company. My teacher asked, “If you lived during Anne Frank’s time, would you have hidden her and her family?” The answer was an emphatic “Yes!” We all knew it was worth any danger to do what was morally right.

What we didn’t know was what an easy question it was to answer at the time. We knew the outcome where those who tried to protect the Franks would eventually be liberated and hailed as heroes. And we believed such a thing would never happen in America. “Would you have hidden Anne Frank?” was a…