Letter from Birmingham Jail

"Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself."

I've been thinking about who is a greater blockage in the path of change. Is it the oppressor or the "moderate" people? The people who are happy to maintain the status quo, who look away because who can stomach seeing the body of a child—pardon, to look at what is left after a bomb ripped it apart.

Deep down, I have always known the answer to this question. I've seen many videos of women being assaulted in somewhat empty streets, metro stations, and rooms to see one man sexually assaulting, beating, stoning, and stabbing her while others went on with their lives.

I've plenty of stories linking to donations meant for Palestine, most of them were only in October. Is one share all it takes for some people to wash their hands of any responsibility? It must be a cruel twist of fate for those people to be praised when the vast majority of our community remains stationed in place—perched in their thrones of privilege.

However, to make Martin Luther King Jr.'s words in 'Letter from Birmingham Jail' my own:

Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.

I'm unsure of the purpose of this.

I'm unsure if I'm clamoring for the moderate person, for the guardian of the status quo to finally care. I'm unsure if those people have the necessary humanity to care at all, because, again from King's words I say, "Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection."

A large part of me still clings to hope that the bystander will take a stand against oppression, Plestia has said it best "Your silence about the genocide says so much about what values you allow to exist in our world. It's no longer about Palestine only!"

I sincerely hope people will participate in the #blockout even if they believe it to be futile, I hope they'll participate in something for the mere fact it shows they're awakened to the truth that has been kept hidden away from so many—or perhaps, that so many didn't want to see.

As I write this, it has been 216 days since October 7th. To me personally, every influential person—actors, authors, singers, influencers, politicians—who haven't been vocal in their support for Palestine should be permanently de-platformed, and I know that to some that is extreme.

But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Was not Amos an extremist for justice: "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream." Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Was not Martin Luther an extremist: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God." And John Bunyan: "I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience."

If it is an extreme reaction, demand, or whatever you wish to call it, pardon me, but since seeing the open skull of a child without their brain inside, after seeing countless parents carrying what remained of their children in plastic bags, after seeing what remained of an elderly man after a tractor ran over his body, after seeing a single drop of the most horrific things Palestinians in Gaza are forced to see, to smell, to live alongside with, I must say I'm rather extreme in not accepting the meek attempt of speaking up for Gaza now.

You're seven months and seventy-five years too late. As T. S. Eliot has said: "The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason."