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The first 100 days of a presidency are critical, make your demands heard now!
<[link removed]>Sign the petition! <[link removed]>
Dear John,
Last week, aerial photos from Los Angeles with blocks of homes reduced to ash hit social media timelines, leading people to understandably draw comparisons to Gaza. Destruction of entire neighborhoods is always heartbreaking. Home, where most of us spend a great deal of our time, shapes who we are. The memories and love a home can hold are much larger than whatever its square footage may be. Behind all the devastation are all the people in power that make all of this tragedy and grief possible in the first place.
Joe Biden’s term as president ended on Monday, and the world doesn’t have to guess just what his legacy is. The crimes he is responsible for are written into history with the blood of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, each one coming from a neighborhood his administration helped turn to ash. When I think of Joe Biden, l think of every child I’ve seen dismembered and every home I’ve seen destroyed on my phone screen.
A small part of accountability for Biden and his partners in genocide like Antony Blinken, Kamala Harris, Lloyd Austin, Matt Miller, and others will be remembering the people who were killed in Gaza because of their weapons shipments and lies. We owe it to the Palestinian people to not develop amnesia about what the world has done to them. Biden could have ended the genocide at any moment, yet he chose not to. Because of that, tens of thousands of children are dead — the only reason being that they were born in the largest open air prison in the world. Videos of Palestinians returning to northern Gaza brought me to tears over the weekend, and I wish so badly the day had come sooner.
It’s hard to speak of legacies when the dust from the bombs dropped during Bush’s war on Iraq hasn’t even settled. Babies are still being born in Fallujah with life-threatening deformities and diseases. From the environmental impact of the nonstop bombardment to the public health outcomes of living without proper shelter for so long, the extent of Biden’s crimes in Gaza won’t be understood entirely for decades.
It’s also hard to speak of legacies when this week we swore in a new President who has promised to stay the course in arming the genocidal regime in Israel. In reality, the genocide of Palestinians is the legacy of several US presidents preceeding Biden.
It’s our responsibility, while confronting Biden’s legacy and reminding people who he really is, to demand better of our government.
👉 Send Trump our demands for his first 100 days! <[link removed]>
I spend a lot of my time thinking about what people like myself, in the belly of the beast, ought to do to take responsibility for all of the suffering our government has caused, regardless of the president. I think of Che Guevara, who once said, “I envy you. You North Americans are very lucky. You are fighting the most important fight of all—you live in the belly of the beast.” As Trump returns to office to build his own legacy, and as Biden leaves behind four years and decades of consequences, I try very hard to remember that to be in this struggle is a privilege of mine. If I abhor the suffering forced on the Palestinians in Gaza, I must realize that I live in the perfect place to do something about it.
Trump and his new agenda are obstacles — but we’ve confronted plenty of obstacles under this system that consistently mobilizes all of its resources against the movement for peace. When we finally win, I hope people will remember our movement as one that took responsibility for our situation and found power when we thought we couldn’t. I hope our impact eventually defines the legacies of the warmongers like Biden and Trump, so that the world cannot forget who they are or what they did. Remember: It’s the people who can really define a president’s legacy. Let that propel you to take action and organize. Let that give you a glimmer of hope.
👉 Make our demands for peace and justice clear: sign the petition to Trump with demands for his first 100 days! <[link removed]>
And before you go, feel free to read and share a longer version of this message: "Biden's Legacy is Written in Blood" <[link removed]>with any friends and family that need to be moved to action.
With endless love and hope,
Danaka and the entire CODEPINK team
P.S. See a recap of all our actions and protests on Inauguration Day! <[link removed]>
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