I started learning about the history of the Israeli occupation, the political ideology of Zionism, and Israeli settlers of the West Bank. I was watching videos coming out of Gaza and crying with friends. I started learning about how colonization, capitalism, and white supremacy are interconnected and essential to each other’s existence, and how they were at the root of the issue. However, for the people of Palestine, that struggle has never ended since 76 years ago.
I
was taking it all in and I was silent. I was scared. I was thinking
about myself. I didn't want to be labeled anti-Semitic. I didn't want to
get canceled and lose my career. I didn't want to lose fans. I didn't want to offend anyone.
But at a certain point, I couldn't believe those voices anymore. My heart had just enough cracks in it that the light of Palestinian resistance struggle and unwavering faith cracked it open. I was experiencing what happens when the internal pain from being silent outweighs the risk of speaking up in moments of injustice.
» It is our moral obligation to protest or we are complicit. «
Macklemore, March 22, 2025.
And once you see it, you can't unsee it. Once you learn the real history, you can unlearn it. Once you get past the media and the White House focusing solely on October 7th, once you begin to look at October 6th, 5th, 4th and the 75 years before of oppression and displacement, that's when the truth opens up.
And once you look under the hood and realize our government officials are bought and paid for by the Israel Lobby, you can't look at our so-called democracy the same way. Once you understand that our tax dollars are funding a genocide that we are watching in real time in the palm of our hands, I believe it is our moral obligation to adamantly protest the atrocities we are witnessing and funding or we are complicit.
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civilians in Gaza and the West Bank while attempting to silence and deport his critics within the US.
» The single greatest threat to freedom of speech in the US is Israel and its supporters
here in the US. [... ] It's just shocking, and one wonders where all this leads. «
American political scientist Prof. John J. Mearsheimer, March 18, 2025.
American political scientist Prof. John J. Mearsheimer, March 18, 2025.
