Our collective responses to the genocide taking place in Palestine, as well as the criminalization of Mexicans and other Latinos across the country, is appalling. I believe that our collective global responses to these inhumanities is shameful.
The atrocities that the Palestinians have been subjected to have been ongoing daily for the past two years. It has actually been ongoing for the past 70-plus years! What we are now witnessing is just the next logical step in the historic injustices that the Palestinian people have endured.
So the question that I must ask is how did this happen? How did we, the global community, become so uncaring that we would and could allow this to happen? What has happened to us, and what do we need to reclaim, to expand the numbers of people who are now engaged in protests, to ensure that this will not happen again?
If we do not learn the lessons of what is it that has caused us to not come to the aid of the Palestinians, as well as our fellow Latino/Hispanic communities, we will never be able to create the world that we want to live in. One that values the life and humanity of everyone.
We seem to be living in a world in which there is now a battle taking place to reshape the world created by the ideology of white supremacy, the system of patriarchy, in which power is distributed – and capitalism.
What also seems to be happening is that the onslaught upon the humanity of people everywhere is making it possible for many of us to reconnect ourselves to our own humanity.
The pitting of people against each other along so-called racial, class and gender lines, historically, I believe, is what really caused us, many of us, to disconnect ourselves from our own humanity.
A history in this country that has been ongoing for several centuries continues to see us – the working class, poor, underserved and underrepresented communities – fighting today for the same rights that all human beings are entitled to, rights that we have been fighting for over the past several centuries. And we have constantly fought against each other for the little bit of space that the people in positions of power have given us.
We have been so disconnected from our own humanity that we have confined our fight to just our own individual spaces. We think that the space that we inhabit is the only space worth fighting for. And what the people in positions of power have done is pit one community against another, and then co-opted the leadership into its framework.
And when we discuss the problem, we only talk about what the problem is, not how we have been and continue to be affected by it. When we talk about racism, we talk about what it is and not how we have been and continue to be affected by it psychologically.
Sexism. Misogyny. We talk about what it is, but we don’t discuss, at least as much as we should, how certain segments of the population that are women voted for Donald Trump, an admitted sexist and misogynist.
We know what homophobia is, but we don’t discuss how some revolutionary thinkers, who happen to be men, are just as disrespectful of people within the LGBT community as the worst homophobe.
The battle that is ongoing between young people and elders. The fear that exists between them.
The discussions that take place on these issues are usually framed by the power structure. We talk about these issues in a way that excludes the experiences of everyone else. And that has led to hostilities between us.
One way in which these hostilities have manifested themselves has been our not supporting each other. The framework that has been created by those who oppress us empowers us – or causes us to think of ourselves as empowered.
At some point, the oppressor does not have to oversee the framework that is to be maintained; we maintain the framework ourselves. As a point of that empowerment, we exclude each other from the discussion, and by doing so exclude their experiences.
I believe that everyone who has ever been oppressed has a responsibility to support the humanity and right to live of the Palestinian people.
But if we are so disconnected from our own humanity, that we cannot look at each other and see a reflection of ourselves, we are already disconnected from the Palestinian people. If we are so disconnected from our humanity that we will not fight for each other here in the U.S., then we cannot be responsible enough to fight for anyone!
I believe that the forms of hate that divide us – racism, sexism, misogyny, homophobia, classism, anti-youth-and-elderly, religious and spiritual hate etc. are nothing but tools that have been used to pit us against each other throughout history.
And I believe these are the tools of choice in order to maintain the system of power – white male supremacy, patriarchy and capitalism.
When we are reconnected with our own humanity, the protests that recently took place throughout the country, such as No Kings Day, connect us to each other and to all oppressed people.
During the historic hunger strikes that occurred throughout California prisons, we were supported by the Palestinians – and we were supported throughout the Mexican and Latino communities globally.
We now have a responsibility to stand with them, and in so doing, stand with the global communities in South Afrika, Spain, Ireland, Japan and those who are standing against these inhumanities in the Netherlands, France, Germany and Israel.
Right now, in this moment, nothing is as important as demanding that the atrocities against the Palestinians and the criminalizing of brown skin STOP! When we do so, we will not only empower ourselves, but we will empower the global community who, like us, reconnected with their humanity as well.
Love and Struggle,
Zah
Zah is a “wise man,” a leader and counselor behind enemy lines, and a very long time friend and contributor to the Bay View. Send our brother some love and light: Michael “Zaharibu” Dorrough, D83611, SATE, Level 2, B3-9-5L, P.O. Box 5248, Corcoran, CA 93212.
