if I ruled the world...

Two weeks ago, I had a nice little post planned for y’all. It was about my birthday, and reclaiming my future. It was cute and mostly sunshine and rainbows. But in those two weeks, the world has grown darker. And there is so much to say.

In watching the reactions to Israel/Palestine, I am realizing many things. 1. This is hot button issue under normal circumstances and opinions are deeply and intensely personal. 2. Combing through news, opinions, first hand accounts, questions, heartache, and propaganda in real time is hard as f****. 3. History is more complicated than we want it to be- as is statehood, international law, military expectations, and humanity.

And so, what shall we say to these things? Probably not enough. As Ive written and re-written this post, there is so much I want to write. I want to tell you about the Black Feminists who were worried and writing about Palestinian people decades ago. I want to explore propaganda and how it's used in news and now social media. I want to share examples of when one piece of writing slides in and out of news and opinion, incorrect facts and deep emotions. I want to talk about imprisonment and freedom and war. I want to ask questions about power and oppression. And I want to do all of that because I care. And because when you have been studying these things for years, all you want to do is sit everyone down and start at the beginning and walk them through the nuances of what you know- even while you yourself understand that there is more to know.

I think about it like antiracism. You ever meet someone has just realized they might be racist and are absolutely distraught? That person has a million questions and is deeply emotional and is trying to figure it all out right NOW. And it’s overwhelming, right? Your own knee-jerk reaction is to sit down and spend hours unpacking theology, history, sociology. You want to reframe all the myths and stereotypes. You want to introduce them to new concepts and data and information. You really, really want to correct all the MLK quotes they’ve misinterpreted. And you suddenly realize- this isnt going to happen in one conversation, or in one day, or in one week, or in one year. That person has just started a journey and you can’t download everything you know and believe like they are an empty computer. You have to embrace their humanity and your own, and decide if you will be there for the journey.

And that’s how I feel right now. So while I can’t give you everything, I can decide to be one, small part of your journey.

In this moment, I am thinking a lot about Paulo Freire’s definition of freedom:

“Freedom is not an ideal located outside of man; nor is it an idea which becomes myth. It is rather the indispensable condition for the quest for human completion.

-Pedogogy of the Oppressed

If I ruled the world, I’d free all my sons. 

I can’t stop thinking about this definition of freedom because it is so very concrete. Often when we speak of freedom, we speak about it as abstract, as symbol, as a vague, ethereal feeling. That is until oppression limits freedom. Then freedom becomes real. It is no longer built on feelings but on an unambiguous state of existence. 

If I ruled the world, I’d free all my sons. 

Jewish people know what it is to yearn for freedom. The atrocities committed during the Holocaust are bone-chilling. Everything was stripped away. Everything. It was genocide. And even now, they continue to fight against antisemitism, against hate as they continue to declare their fundamental right to be free. 

If I ruled the world, I’d free all my sons. 

But free to do what?

Paulo reminds us that it is a thin line between oppressor and oppressed, because we, humans, have a tendency to simply recreate the hierarchies (and therefore atrocities) which have already been overcome. Rather than reach for libration for all, we claw at ownership, at power, at the right to decide not only our own fate, but the fate of someone else. 

The State of Israel (not Jewish people, but the state) along with our American dollars and resources has been the oppressor of Palestinian civilians.

For decades displaced Palestinian families have been living in what amounts to an open air prison. They are without freedom. Their existence is bordered, boundaried on all sides.

And now those boundaries are squeezing tighter. No fuel. No food. No water. Bombed hospitals. Bombed homes. Bombed churches. No way out. And no where safe. Displacement within displacement. Palestinians are right now unfree, and if we don’t take their freedom seriously, we are headed toward yet another genocide. Another one.

If I ruled the world, I’d free all my sons.

But I don’t rule the world. I cannot wave a magic wand and rid the world of antisemitism, and return all hostages, and bring back all those who have died, and undo the policies that displaced the Palestinians, and give back their futures, and create a new land with everyone as free as the person next to them. 

And that’s why declaring hope that all people would be free sounds almost silly in its simplicity. Because there are complicated and complex identities, histories, systems, global structures at work here. And yet, I must remind myself that hope is my duty. I don’t need to wait until I am sober and come up with a less utopian idea. I don’t need to wait for some small semblance of peace or dialogue to appear before I’m willing to make a declaration. I feel small and yet, I know, or at least, I believe that my tiny declaration, my tiny hope matters. 

If I ruled the world, I’d free all my sons. 

I’d rid the world of antisemitism and I’d call the State of Israel to not inflict the same pain that so many of its residents remember well. I’d demand that the US stop aiding the war and start aiding justice. I’d demand that the hostages be free but also that every Palestinian unjustly jailed, unjustly imprisoned or in unjust detention centers be free too. Id demand that food, water and fuel be restored for Palestinian families. Id demand that safe zones be honored for civilians. But since I cannot do any of these things, what I can do is join my voice to those who are calling for a ceasefire. What I can do is give to efforts for humanitarian aid. What I can do is uplift the voices of Palestinian people. And I can share the work that has been waiting for an audience.

Here is my personal list of resources. Keep what’s helpful and toss the rest.

News Sources: I primarily go to Al Jazeera, the AP, and the collection at News Not Noise for updated (fact checked) information about the latest in Gaza.

First hand accounts: Andre Henry offered this list of some folks you can follow

Opinions: All of these, are left/progressive voices that have long desired that the Palestinian people be free. But understand these voices are purposefully looking through a leftist lens, these are not fact checkers- they are humans trying to make sense of what’s happening in real time. Slow Factory. Zinn Education Project. Angela Davis (she has been involved in a series of virtual conversations). Morgan Bassichis. Adrienne Maree Brown. Andre Henry. Kehlani. AROC Bay Area (Arab Resource & Organizing Center). IMEU (Institute for Middle East Understanding). Jewish Voice for Peace.

Resources: Haymarket Books has a number of books you can check out. Freedom is a Constant Struggle by Angela Davis is one I highly recommend. Noor Hindi is a Palestinian-American poet who wrote Dear God. Dear Bones. Dear Yellow.

If I ruled the world, Id free all my sons.

**Im sure the typos abound. Please forgive my own humanity**