Why none of us are free until Palestine is free
Today is the 4th of July, a holiday here in America where we are supposed to celebrate our freedom and independence.
It used to be one of my favorite holidays. A time to revel in the joys of summer; corn on the cob, the pleasure of ice cream in the warm sunshine, Americana music and the smell of freshly cut grass. Feeling proud to be an American while reflecting on the price of freedom, and basking in gratitude to live in such an amazing place.
But this year, as with last year, I feel entirely different.
My view of my beloved country is forever altered, and with that change, my heart feels so heavy.
Since the events of October 7th, 2023, I have been witnessing a genocide unfold in Palestine. Watching it in real time on my phone; an unprecedented horror in the modern age, the worst holocaust of our time.
I go into more detail of how this has transformed me, in this article entitled “Will you answer the call to peace?”
In the last 21 months, I have personally watched thousands of videos regarding the situation in Palestine. Not the deception of mainstream news, but raw, real documentation. An endless stream of first-hand footage from Gaza and the West Bank - showing in real time, the horrific atrocities being committed against innocent men, women, and children.
Not just war crimes, but crimes against humanity; being carried out by the so-called Israeli military or what I now refer to as the ITF (Israeli Terrorist Forces). Funded and enabled by AIPAC, the United States, and other Western governments. With consent manufactured by the lies and complicity of mainstream media.
The anger and heartbreak I feel over the situation is beyond my ability to express.
To see our government actively participate in this genocide and then label Palestinian resistance as terrorists, all while celebrating this nation’s founding through violent armed resistance, is mind-boggling. The hypocrisy is staggering. And it doesn’t end there.
Watching the rise of concentration camps being built to detain people in inhumane conditions and without due process, witnessing mass deportations. Seeing food and medical benefits ripped away from the most vulnerable people in our communities- all while so-called “Christians” cheer it on; it breaks my heart in ways I cannot begin to articulate.
These actions are directly opposed to the teachings of Jesus that so many claim to follow.
“So I will come to put you on trial, I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers, and perjurers; against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty. (-Malachi 3:5)
If you happen to be someone who claims the name of Christ, read that again. How anyone can claim to follow Jesus yet care nothing for foreigners or the downtrodden, is beyond me.
I am the granddaughter of an immigrant. My grandmother arrived at Ellis Island, New York on September 3rd, 1912. She was 4 years old, and had sailed from Norway with her mother, older sister, and baby brother, to join their father who had gone ahead to Montana.
I think that many are unaware of what is so beautifully written at the Statue of Liberty on Ellis Island, where my grandmother and her family came so many years ago, seeking refuge and the chance for a better life. There’s a poem on a plaque there, written by Emma Lazarus, on November 2nd, 1883-
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame is the imprisoned lightning,
and her name Mother of Exiles.
From her beacon-hand glows world-wide welcome;
her mild eyes command the air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she with silent lips
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
How have we forgotten this?
For anyone who needs the reminder, if you were born in America, unless you’re Native American, you are an immigrant too. And while we’re at it, Mexicans are also Native Americans, which so many people seem to forget.
And for those who want to argue, “but are they though, what about the Spanish blood?” to that I say, blah blah fuckity blah.
When are we all going to realize that there is one country, one Homeland.
Planet Earth.
One race of people, the Human race.
One God, not a religious god, but the Source of all Life. From which you came and to which you will return, regardless of your beliefs.
None of us own jack shit. We are all merely inhabitants of this giant spinning rock in space.
We are meant to be stewards of this precious Earth, for a short time.
And we are doing a pretty piss-poor job of it at the moment.
What if the Statue of Liberty could speak today?
I imagine her weeping. Not in shame, but in fury. In grief.
Weeping for the broken promises etched at her feet. For the weary ones who were never welcomed.
For the hungry turned away.
For the refugees demonized.
For the asylum-seekers deported.
For the prayers of the oppressed that rose like incense- and were met with silence.
She lifts her lamp and cries: “Bring me your huddled masses,” but the borders are barred. The cages are full. The Empire does not want your tired, your poor- it wants your silence.
Your apathy. Your compliance.
And what does all of this have to do with Palestine, you might ask? The answer is, everything. EVERYTHING.
Because the corrupt, colonial, patriarchal powers that are enabling and committing the genocide in Palestine, are the same power structures responsible for all the other oppression and injustice in the world.
There is of course, so much suffering in other parts of the world, in my own country, not to mention places like Congo and Sudan.
But the reason why I believe Palestine is so incredibly important and why we must bear witness and speak out, is because Palestine is a sort of litmus test.
It's like a watershed or keystone species. Where certain creatures show what the status of the surrounding ecosystem is.
If these particular creatures are healthy and doing well, it means the surrounding ecosystem is thriving. And if not, it means there's a greater issue beyond how just those creatures are faring for themselves.
And that's what Palestine is.
Because we are all connected.
Because none of these atrocities are separate from the whole.
You can see this in the way that Western imperialist countries like the US, the UK, and Germany are responding to protesters.
No one cares if you shout free Congo or stop the war in Sudan, but if you hold a sign that says “Free Palestine” or try to boycott IsNotreal, you risk all manner of repercussions.
In the land of the free and the home of the brave.
And still, my Lovelies- do not grow cynical.
There is a sacred gift that has come in the aftermath of October 7th, and that is the mass awakening felt around the world. A great movement that has allowed so many of us to finally start unraveling a lifetime of indoctrination and inherited blindness.
The decolonization of our own hearts and minds is a holy fire. And it burns.
But it is at that very moment of deep despair and heartbreak that we must choose again.
We are not here to become love. We are here to remember that we already are love.
That we are not separate or powerless.
And that liberation of our own heart, is the most powerful gift we can give this aching world.
I no longer see this country as I used to. The veil is off.
I see the blood it was built on, the patriarchy it crowned, the illusions it sold. I see the theft, the lies, the control dressed up as freedom.
And yet- this land is extraordinary. There is indescribable beauty in this place. In its mountains, rivers, and wide skies.
In its people and rich history of dreamers, rebels, inventors, over-comers.
In you, and in me. And that kind of beauty is worth fighting for.
Not the old way. Not the way of empire, but the way of the soul.
What if America could actually be great?
Not again, because let’s be real, it never truly was.
But for the first time.
It was founded on ideas that pointed to greatness- liberty, justice, equality- even though the hands that wrote those ideas were soaked in injustice. That dream can still live. But it has to start with us.
The true greatness of a nation begins in the soul of its people.
Which is why those of us who have a soul and eyes and the ability for critical thinking, who are awakening to something more- it is our responsibility to help bring forth a New Earth.
To stand up and speak out and hold the line.
To resist and persist and love your neighbor as you love yourself.
We must understand that there is no separation, that we are all connected. And when one of us is hurt or threatened, we are all hurt and threatened. For a threat to freedom and justice and liberation anywhere, is a threat to freedom and justice and liberation everywhere.
We must hold the vision for a world where peace and well-being, is for absolutely everyone.
Frihet er for alle. Which is '“freedom for all,” in Norwegian.
Until that day, long live the Resistance until they are no longer needed.
And remember, land that you have to kill for, to betray and corrupt for, is not yours.
Land that you choose to die for, is.
Alsalam ealaykum.
And as always, Free Palestine.