Thanks for subscribing to WELLREAD. For the last 6+ years we’ve been providing folks with the need to know (NTK) news, calls to actions and resources for how to stay engaged and resourced along the way. But now, we’ve added an option to “upgrade to paid” to help sustain our work. While we will never put our content behind a pay wall, we depend on the support of our community to keep us going. 💛 As someone whose family and life was torn apart by terrorists, I know intimately the destruction of terrorism. To be devastated by the brutal killing of loved ones never justifies the killing of others. The atrocities committed against the people of Israel this past weekend are horrific. As is the violence, displacement and imprisonment of Palestinians for far too long. To acknowledge history is not to erase the present. It is the height of dehumanization to look at events as if they started on Saturday rather than to look backwards and acknowledge that Palestinians have been waking up to violence for years. To advocate for liberation and human rights for Palestinian people is not to justify the acts of terror against Isreali civilians. #FreePalestine does not equate to supporting Hamas. Nor does it negate the very real devastation to the Israeli community. These are human lives caught in a legacy of oppression and violence. And none of us are safe inside of a system that says some lives are more valuable than other lives. Ending the systemic and structural oppression of Palestinian people (and other marginalized people) is bound with all liberation. My politics around this have been clear and consistent since the unjust and inhumane retaliation against Muslims and the people of the Middle East in the wake of 9/11 that killed over 1 million civilians. The tragic loss of my step dad and so many other does not justify war crimes. It is exactly for this reason that I will not be silent when anyone commits crimes against humanity. Kerri (she/her) Art: @gabestorres NTK (need to know)
SolidarityThis history of the Israel-Palestine “conflict” is not a simple one. I don’t claim to understand all of it or be an expert on the topic. I am simply listening and learning from those who are most impacted by the history and present reality, following their lead and trying to play my part. What I’m learning is that this is not a “both sides” situation. There is no symmetry between these two entities: Palestinians are under occupation and Israel is the occupying force. Here are some resources to get educated and take action:
Art: @carolinejsumlin Practicing JusticeAs soon as I heard of the devastating attacks in Israel I was devastated. Not only heartbroken for the unnecessary and brutal loss of innocent life, but a deeper fear for what was about to come. I remember that feeling, in the wake of 9/11 - when we were gutted and most vulnerable - the shock and moral outrage that inevitably leads to vengeance. To know history is to know how it would play out. Fear and hurt has been used to justify countless wars including the false war on terror that followed 9/11 and took almost 1 million lives. It calls us to debate who deserves to be mourned and who doesn’t; whose lives matter and deserve to be defended and whose don’t. The root of violence is oppression and therefore the end of violence is the end of systemic oppression. Fred Joseph wrote “when we, in our selfishness and prejudice, start to believe that some children are less deserving of life, of breath of dreams - then we are truly wandering in the wilderness of our own making, and we may very well be irretrievably lost”. I pray for all Israelis and Palestinians who are suffering. I pray for an end to the brutal occupation of Palestine. And I pray for peace. Art by Radical Matriarch We-ness“Hope and grief can coexist, and if we wish to transform the world, we must learn to hold and to process both simultaneously.” - Let This Radicalize You by @prisonculture Here are some questions to hold from #LTRY Reading and Discussion Guide Chapter 8:
More resources on hope and grief can be found HERE. Thanks for subscribing to WELLREAD. For the last six years we’ve been providing folks with the need to know (NTK) news, calls to actions and resources for how to stay engaged and resourced along the way. But now, we’ve added an option to “upgrade to paid” to help sustain our work. While we will never put our content behind a pay wall, we depend on the support of our community to keep us going. 💛 You're currently a free subscriber to WELLREAD. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription. |