Our Diversity is Our Strength

I believe and often say, “Our diversity is our strength”. Now that has become a tag line of the Democratic Party. If you think about it, that wasn’t something that could have been said by many candidates throughout our history. It is hard to accept diversity when you are not accepting the differences among us. It is hard to champion diversity when the push towards status quo sameness is drilled into us from birth. It is impossible to honor diversity when fear of other is used from the pulpit and political soap box to provide scape goats for the powerful to hide behind. 

But there it was, loud and clear, “Our diversity is our strength”. Words are easy to mimic; more difficult to understand and nearly impossible to bring to fruition. But here it is, a clarion call to the wise to recognize what Nature has always taught. We are here because of what has come before and what will come after. We’re intrinsically tied to all living things. When one is elevated, we’re all elevated. And while we may not recognize it, when one is harmed, we too, are harmed.

The United States has been an experiment in humanity and we are by all accounts in a critical moment. Can we the people, recognize the value of “the other”. Can we care for “the other”? 

Our collective history is fraught with genocide of Indigenous peoples, slavery and other ongoing racial injustices. Our debates about helping immigrants is hypocritical and ironic, given the reality that most of us are born of settlers who infiltrated this land and its peoples.

Thought has its own evolution. And while the ideals of unity, compassion and caring are not new, maybe the time has come for their acceptance. Perhaps a wider audience is now ready for a new reality that’s not merely lip service. Time and actions will tell.

And high on the list must be the end of the apartheid of Palestinian people. We must end racism here and we must not support any forms of it throughout the world. Come on DNC, honor what the vast majority of our citizens want: #CeasefireNow and stop supplying Israel with war machines. Anything less is the continuation of a ruthless and inhuman history. This is now ours to change.

We are waking up.

I remain hopeful. Do the right thing.

When Silence is Betrayal

The United States has contracted a $20 billion arms sale to Israel to be granted over the next few years. This, while Biden is “hopeful” that a ceasefire can be reached. This, while Iran and Hezbollah have said if a permanent ceasefire is reached, they’ll stop attacking. This, while Netanyahu continues his bloody rampage on innocent civilians and refuses a permanent ceasefire. A permanent ceasefire would bring the end to genocide. A permanent ceasefire would allow for the return of Palestinians who were forced to leave since the Nakba. 

A permanent ceasefire would demand the Israeli troops leave Gaza and allow the Palestinian people to find their dead, bury their dead and begin to rebuild their homeland and their lives.

The indiscriminate bombardment of Gaza has been calculated and intentional. The destruction and theft of Palestinian homes in the West Bank by illegal Israeli settlers is also intentional.

The majority of the world are rejecting the genocidal extreme right-wing government of Israel. Most have recognized this onslaught of violence towards Palestinians amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Only the United States administration and Congress have remained unequivocally tied to the murderess regime. (See this map of countries that recognize Palestine statehood.)

It’s said the United States is protecting its interests. What interests are these that require the slaughter of 17,000 children – that we are aware of – and it is likely that too many more lay under the rubble that were once homes, communities, schools, mosques and hospitals.

The spin has been as intentional as the bombing. Polls show an increasing number of citizens demand a ceasefire and oppose more military aid to Israel. We are the majority and our government – all sides – would do well to oblige our demands.

May the peace talks in Doha, bring a permanent ceasefire, a return of all hostages and prisoners, a free Palestine and steps towards peace for everyone in the region.

Dance With the Land

The roosters crow and chickens run for cover. The sheep meander through the old orchard happy to find apples that have dropped. The deer also munch away putting on their winter weight. They seldom run from us now; it’s more like a saunter. The squirrels chastise my cat and dog as we walk by. They’re looking for walnuts to hide. But the pets are oblivious to their nasty banter and hurry on. Everyone has a purpose and with focused attention they get to it.

These are the simple pleasures of living on the land. This time of year, while the garden is in full production and the work is seemingly endless, a swell of gratitude begins. 

The days are gradually shortening and the morning air carries a bit of crispness.  The rhythm of life calls us to slow down and feel the beauty. In a blink the seasons will change and a whole new wonder will emerge.

But for now, I revel in the glory of abundance. And I cannot help but think of the people world over who are being forced from their homelands – either by Nature or by the destructive will of humankind. My compassion is aroused because I know the simple pleasures of living on the land and how each individual has their own unique dance with it, wherever they are. The feel of the earth beneath our feet, the triumph of a garden, the sweetness of shepherding life…to have that ripped away is inhuman.

Colonizers and land thieves may never know what it is to live simply. The stolen land is soaked in blood and tears and while it may produce for them, the stain of violence will linger. Generational trauma will haunt the violent perpetrators and continue to suffer the victims. And those who looked away or supported the violence will not escape the judgement of history. The guilt of association poisons.

Human hearts are not designed for duplicity. And joy cannot thrive where hatred dwells. We have yet to discover the option of peace. The option waits.

Restore Human Dignity

For decades, we allowed the narrative regarding Israel to dominate our thinking and our choices. In doing so, we allowed the humanity of Palestinians to be diminished. We have turned our eyes as Israel developed a system of control that included water rationing, check points, blocked access, settler theft of Palestinian land, homes and sovereignty, bogus arrests and mistreatment of children and so much more. Israel is and has been an apartheid state.

For the past ten months we continued our path of complicity during the inhuman and illegal crimes against humanity that Israel has waged on the Palestinian people since the horrific attack by Hamas.

The more I learn, the more painful the reality. Biden has given more military aid to Israel than any president before him. Supporting Israel’s right to defend itself does not extend to mass slaughter of civilians. As the nations of the world have increasingly moved towards censoring and boycotting Israel because of its crimes against humanity, the United States alone has declared unwavering support for the roque nation. In doing so, we condone genocide. In doing so we prolong the human misery and relinquish any path towards peace.

I am not going to quote numbers of dead, missing, or injured (but you can read it here). I have done that weekly since October. It does not seem to move our hearts, nor do we act to end the madness.

Last week far too many Congress members applauded the war criminal Netanyahu in a joint session of Congress. It seems our citizens are more concerned with bashing the Olympic opener then ending our relationship with the butcher Netanyahu.  This self proclaimed “Christian nation” is awash in hypocrisy.

VP Harris has distanced herself from Biden’s lock step with Israel. It is up to us to make sure that distance widens. The U.S. military aid to Israel must end quickly as Netanyahu seems determined to drive the Mideast into a regional war. 

Keep applying pressure on Biden and Harris to recognize a free Palestine and to restore human dignity and independence – for all of us.

https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/not-another-bomb-sign-on-letter/
NOT ANOTHER BOMB sign on letter.

Kissing a War Criminal’s Ass

The brag on Capitol Hill is that Netanyahu has now addressed the joint session of Congress more times than Winston Churchill. For nearly ten months, the extremist right-wing prime minister has extracted civilian punishment on the people of Gaza for the attack by Hamas that killed 1200 and took 240 hostages. The Palestinian death toll nears 40,000 with many believing it’s closer to 186,000. 

The indiscriminate slaughter of innocents, predominantly women and children, and the very targeted murders of journalists, professors, and medical personnel along with the total destruction of infrastructure has led to the accusations of crimes against humanity.

Recently the head prosecutor of the International Court of Justice applied for an arrest warrant for Netanyahu. The process could take months. But the starvation, dehydration and epidemics ravaging displaced Palestinians means the people are running out of time.

Biden has been in lock step with Netanyahu while the majority of our citizens have demanded immediate ceasefire and are now calling for an arms embargo. Yet the joint session of Congress invited this war criminal to speak. Bibi didn’t offer anything new. He didn’t accept Biden’s offer to secure a ceasefire and his cabinet last week rejected the suggestion of a two-state solution.

Kudos to the over 100 legislators who boycotted the speech. Their refusal to stand and applaud a war criminal was patriotic and human. Bravo to the thousands of humans, including the hundreds pepper sprayed and arrested, for daring to expose the depravity of genocide and our complicity with it.*

Biden still has time to rectify his inhuman support of an unhinged prime minister. He has the capacity to pressure Israel to end this madness. It’s up to each of us to demand he do so. 

  • Since the initial writing of this piece, the main stream media news has shifted to condemn all Pro-Palestinian protesters, who stood up against our Joint Session of Congress welcoming a war criminal, and who have for the past 10 months demanded a ceasefire on innocent civilians and an end to US military support of Israel – as agents of Hamas and Iran.
  • These are blatant lies demonizing college students, rabbis and all people of conscience who have from the beginning challenged US complicity in this genocide – because of a few.
  • My writings since the horrific attack by Hamas on Oct 7, have never supported Hamas. Not will I ever support the actions of the right-wing Netanyahu and the illegal settlers that are displacing and killing Palestinian people.
  • We must rise to our humanity and stop allowing intentional media driven storylines to destroy the anti-violence, and anti-war – for all peoples’ sake. Palestinians, Israelis and us. We must STOP aiding Israeli military. NO MORE BOMBS for GENOCIDE.

We Are Groomed

We are groomed. From our toothpaste to our choice of presidents and everything in between we are groomed. From blue to pink, trucks and dolls, prince and princess we are sold a way of life that we accept. 

The unity that everyone is suddenly seeking is not a unity of plurality. It is a unity of homogenization. 

Pundits and tricksters are clever at finding weaknesses and preying on the vulnerable. We are still falling for the “pick yourselves up by the bootstraps” mentality and we are willing to line up behind those who tell us they have succeeded. 

We’ve stopped teaching our children about universality and wisdom. We teach right and wrong and demonstrate that wrong is often right. 

We brag about our exceptionalism, salute the flag and honor those who died for our freedom, but are quite willing to sacrifice those same freedoms to someone who willingly admits he would be an autocrat.

And of course, the flip side of the coin holds the same empty rhetoric but is geared towards those who fear evil – but not enough fear to really want to see change. 

Because what would change mean?

Change would mean finding ways that work for all of us. It would mean building communities, not tearing them apart by militarized police.

Change would mean understanding we are part of a global humanity and the family of man is faced with consequences of climate change and wars that are causing migration the world over.

Change would mean recognizing that capitalism and empires have wounded us so we may begin to actively and consciously dismantle those crippling enterprises. While we’re at it, let us begin with defunding Israel and demanding the end to its apartheid regime. 

“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.” Camus

Demand a New Way

July Fourth rolled around again. The time when veterans and pets cower from the indiscriminate overuse of fireworks. Our celebration of “freedom” is reduced to a celebration of war. Our current telling of history leaves out the tactical actions of people who refused to be enslaved by unjust taxes, imposed curfews, restricted speech and more. History omits the effort to garner the support of the majority, and forgets the internal struggles with loyalists to the King. And while we praise the Constitution as a significant milestone in human history, we allow politicians attempt to dismantle it, much the way we allowed the dismantling of Reconstruction – refusing Black peoples’ rights to the very same freedoms we claim.

And then there is our ongoing history of crushing “freedom” for people the world over. The most current is our funding of the slaughter of Palestinians who also seek “freedom.” 

We’ve used war and our stories of “freedom” to keep us in a cycle of violence. We’ve never shrugged off the dominance of the wealthy class and we are suffering greatly for it. We are divided and ignorant of the calamities before us. We accept lies as truths and we have lost sight of the power of “We the People”, as we clamor for another King. 

But wait! The story of the United States may yet again resound with hope. The stepping aside of Biden – should it happen – could signal the possibility of transformation. 

Could it be too much to ask that the majority of our citizens rally to this moment and not simply choose a president, but demand a new way of life and the beginning of a new history?

Let’s bring to an end the exploitation of people and resources. Let cooperation and compassion lead. Let’s demand peace.

We All Belong.

Recently I took a deep dive into the humanity that surrounds me. At the Juneteenth celebration I heard a Black spoken word artist tell the lynching of Mary Turner. I had never heard of this shocking cruelty. There are so many ugly moments buried in our history. Racism is the insane result of human ignorance. Bringing light to the darkness and holding memories in Love lead us to transformation.

I also learned a bit more about a new friend’s struggle. She lives where many chose to ignore the pain brought to her Jewish family by unkind ignorance. A photo of teenage males with arms raised in Nazi salute was given a pass by many. Excuses do not erase the fear of underlying hate.

The final blow of humanity gone mad was a story about a woman in Texas who tried to drown a three-year-old Palestinian child. The assailant declared the child doesn’t belong here. I have dear friends, whose children are half Palestinian. I have listened to them as they reckon with the derangement of hatred that knows no boundaries and the ignorance of uncaring that surrounds us. Note to the ignorant: We All Belong.

But here is the sweet truth of it. The Black poet is using his artistry to heal himself and everyone he touches. For him, Love is the sacred key that releases the darkness.

And my new friend and her family, chose to not run away, but sought comfort and allegiance in the diversity of people who have also felt exclusion and prefer community. 

And while my friends are facing the stark reality of Palestinian isolation and fear, they are simultaneously finding their voice and their strength to prevail. May a community of goodwill continue to surround them.

I have no doubt they will all chose humanity over hatred. I’m proud to know them all. In any way that I can I’ll help dispel the ignorance of separation that torments humankind. I suggest we all do the same.

Whether we like it or not we share this fragile and exquisite planet for a brief moment in time.

May Love Prevail.

And while we are still in Pride Month, I want to extend my forgiveness to those people who friend me on Facebook, but attack Queer love and lives on that medium. Whatever ignorance you harbor about diversity does not come from God. Not yours or anyone else’s. There is One Love and it manifests in many forms. Now, please forgive yourself and lets move on.

Affirmation of Resilience

The Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves held in confederate states on January 1, 1863. But it wasn’t until the passage of the 13th Amendment in 1865 that slavery was abolished in the entire country.

The Civil War ended in April and on June 19th of 1865 the Union Army made its way to Galveston, Texas to remind slave owners of their duty to set people free. Hence the celebration now recognized as our national holiday, Juneteenth.

Ah, but that slow boat to progress grinds on. 

It wasn’t until the passage of the 14th Amendment in 1868 that formerly enslaved people were granted citizenship, due process and equal protection. Voting rights were granted to all male citizens by the 15th Amendment in 1870. 

In October 1913, W.E.B. Du Bois and the NAACP celebrated the African diaspora and the progress made towards freedom. These celebrations have continued. They signify times of reflection and pride throughout the United States and Caribbean nations. They are an affirmation of the resilience of the People. 

In the ongoing struggles of systemic racism and the whitewashing of our history, the continued resurgence of Juneteenth showcases the strength and the courage of our Black family. 

It was an honor to participate in Baraboo’s first ever celebration of Juneteenth. Music, poetry, family, faith, food and brutal honesty mingled with love in the heart of Baraboo, and hosted by Humility, Inc.

“We Do This ‘Til We Free Us” is Mariame Kabe’s determined title to her book on human abolition / emancipation and community. We have so very much to learn from one another. Maybe next year I’ll trek to Milwaukee where Juneteenth has been celebrated for the past fifty- three years.

Let us never turn back the clock. 

Milwaukee’s Juneteenth celebration – photo by Angela Harris

Liberal Ambivalence

People take great pride in espousing what they believe to be true. “Hear it, repeat it, swear by it” should be our national motto.

People ask me what I believe and I say, “You don’t want to know what I believe. Beliefs change like clothing. Ask me what I know.”

I get a few sideways glances but few dare to ask. I understand why. Very few take the time required to delve into the realm of knowing. Comforted by belief, however ludicrous, we accept what we have been told as gospel. 

The annihilation of Palestine is peppered with belief. Belief in Zionism, belief in Rapture, belief that our leaders have our best interest at heart. I heard someone tell Tammy Baldwin that what is happening in Gaza is genocide. She replied, “We don’t use that word.” Why Tammy?

Does it have something to do with who finances campaigns?  Or do you really believe that what is occurring for the past eight months – and truly much longer – is not genocide? Cutting off food and water, bombing crowded markets, hospitals, schools…all with United States tax dollars and your support. Let’s call it what it is.

We are so into belief that we no longer push for what is right. Our beliefs keep us from any meaningful dialogue towards peace. Instead, we “save” four hostages by killing a few hundred civilians. And it is “we” since it is our money and weaponry so cavalierly being used to kill.

But, mustn’t say genocide. 

But I can’t blame you alone, Tammy. For every one of you there are countless numbers of people who shrug their shoulders and mumble something inane like, both sides are wrong (or are they right?). Ah, the delusion of ambivalence. How well we wear it. 

Ignorance must indeed be bliss. We can all do much more.

Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine – Learn more. Take action. Talk to people.