Broadcasting the balance and defending the discourse. I would like to welcome you to another episode of Civic Cipher, where our mission is to foster allyship, empathy and understanding. Today we are broadcasting from the hip hop Weaky Studios and I am your host, Rams's job. Big shout out to my man c Ward, who is back in the Middle East changing the world. And can't wait to have him back in the studio again soon. But for now, I have a couple of special guests in the building that
are here to have a very important conversation. We've been saying some things about the goings on in Palestine, and we've been having these conversations. We feel that they are important, they are necessary, and I feel honored to have two people with us in the studio. One is Suzanne Oslom, who's been with us before. For those unacquainted, she is a human rights major and a former Miss Air USA
souls an actress and activist turn writer. I've spent time in Palestine working with a peacekeeping team and she obviously has a deep personal understanding of the occupation, the Israeli occupation over there, and we have a new friend to myself into the show. He goes by the name Resistance is Beautiful, and actually I came across him for going viral a few times for bringing attention to the Palestinian
people in the state of Palestine. And the fact of the matter is that there is a lot more in the way of conversation that we need to have with respect to what's going on over there, and so I appreciate you both coming to the show, and today I plan on really having some conversations that inform our listeners on ways that we can better support what's going on in Palestine on the ground from where we are here in the USA. So there's a lot to stick around for,
so please do that. The first and foremost, We're going to start this show off with some Ebony excellence, and today's Abny Excellence is sponsored by Major Threads. For innovative, fashionable sportswear. Checkmajor threads dot com today for any excellence. We're going to keep in line with the theme, we're going to highlight a man who I believe exemplifies to any excellence. He goes by the name of Sean King.
And the reason that we're shouting out Sean King is says an example of Aveny excellence is because he has really showed I think all of us what strength looks like, how powerful black voices can be, what allyship looks like. And he has been bold, very bold in the face of opposition. He is constantly sharing how he's at risk of being deep platform by showing videos and sharing content on social media that is causing a lot of people to question what's going on in Gaza with respect to
the Palestinian people. I'm sure you're feelings with Sean King.
Yes, I think he's nothing less than a hero, Absolutely sure.
I appreciate that. And I know that you mentioned that you follow him.
As well, right, Yeah, it's been so wonderful to have an American voice speak so passionately and so strongly and have so many connections to the people on the land that he's really been able to apply first hand accounts to a group of people who otherwise might not have that access.
Right, right, And so what I'd like to do is have you look him up. Shawn is spelled s h A U N. Last name King like the conventional spelling. Be warned, there's a lot of graphic content there. But if you have a beating heart and a degree of empathy. I think that you will find that it's important the things that he's sharing with with people. So today I just wanted to make sure that we shouted out Sean King for our ebony excellent. So today I'm going to
start us off a little bit of a story. Now, I know that we've all had a conversation for the Black Information Network, and so I appreciate you coming back to do Civic Cipher with me because this is also near and dear to my heart. I feel it's important to share with people how you came into my life. Resistance, we'll call you resistance for short. But I saw a video of you at your house and what happened was police officer knocked on your door and there was someone
recording you answering the door. And it's important to point out that the police officer was black and that you are a Palestinian man, Muslim Palestinian man. Yes, okay, it's a police officer's black officer knocks on your door and serves you with papers saying that you are not allowed. They're like trespassing papers or something. That let's go back to Arizona's at University, correct, and you know I saw this video. There were so many people that had viewed
this this video. Oh man, it was crazy. I felt like, why am I seeing this so late? Because so many people had already gotten to it before me. I shouldn't know about this, especially happening in Arizona. But it was a conversation that followed that was so moving. Thank Effectually, what was communicated to the officer was thank you for bringing this to me. I consider this this paper a
badge of honor. And a conversation ensued between you and the officer, and you articulated to the officer that you learned what resistance and what protesting was, and you're examples that you followed were examples of the officers, people of my people, of black people, absolutely, Nelson Mandela, Malcolm X, indeed, you know, and these great protesters from history who ultimately it turned out that they were on the right side and in the moments, you know, I think Nelson Mandela
was on the terrorist list until eighteen. I believe.
After he was president of the country, he.
Was still on the terrorist So it ended up being the case that obviously Nelson Mandela was indeed the whole time on the right side of history correct. But what was very special about this video was the candor the nature of the communication. It wasn't combative, it wasn't angry, it was it came from a place of love, and that that sense of pride and that sense of love and that sense of uh brotherhood. Forgive me if I'm
speaking for you far keep going. But that spirit I believe has been largely largely reflected in what I have seen of the Palestinian human beings. And so for you to be so close, it felt appropriate that I should reach out and see if you would honor me with your presence.
You honor me, honestly, You honor us Palestinians, for giving us a voice, you know, at a time where you know you can be you know, death threats or smear campaigns or god knows what can be lobbied against you. Sure you know, so thank you.
Yeah, yeah, this is this is what I'm supposed to do. So just if my hope is that I will have done right by you, you know, and that's really it. I'm honored. I know a moment ago that you you know, we're praying into witness a prayer. There's so many beautiful things about these people and about these and I feel like those things need to be shared on a broader stage, not just with Sean King and activists on TikTok and that sort of things. But there's a lot of stuff
missing from the media space. And since I work in media, you know these are conversations I feel are very important. And you're no stranger to that, Suzan, because you've been on the show before obviously, to have this conversation. Hopefully, at some point in the future we can have conversations that aren't so heavy and based on people being harmed.
But I appreciate you returning because I know that this can be a heavy lift mentally and spiritually for you as well to keep coming back and to keep having these conversations. So I admire your bravery and your consistency and helping us tell the stories from the Palestinian.
In perspective what you said at on the other show that we were on together and the Black and Network is and you use the word obligation, it's just it's what we do. It's what we as Palestinians do, especially when we live we're living in America. We are so blessed to live in a place where we are free and we are safe, and there's not enough. There's never
enough that people like us feel like we're doing. And so if there's an opportunity to do it in a way that we you know, you go out into the streets and you're on the corner of Fashion Square protesting, and that's something that you feel really good about and you're and you're making change in that way, and I write about it, and that's how I find the way to make And this is what we do, and this is who we are, and it's always going to be. You're just born into it.
Yeah, resistance, resistance. Resistance comes in different forms, right, Yeah, all we need all of it, all fronts, all horses, galloping, deliberation.
Well, I would like to start in this conversation, as I do with many conversations I have, in the spirit of love, and because I'm aware that there are some people, perhaps because the information they've received or perhaps because of maybe their specific sensitivities, I want to speak love into this conversation from the beginning, and I want to close
with that, if that's okay with me, Yes, sure. I would like for you to offer a word of kindness to your Jewish brothers and sisters will start with you.
I would say first of all to my Jewish brothers and sisters. We share a lot in common. The way we dance, the way we eat, the way we celebrate, the way we talk. We share so much with one another. We live in peace in so many countries with each other. And one day, when Palestine has returned to us, we want the Jews to stay there just like they were before nineteen forty eight, before the invasion. They will beautify
the land. We want the Jews, the Christians and the Muslims to live together, and the Atheists and the Mormons and the Catholics all together in Jerusalem and fall Asteine returned back to us, so that we can take care of everyone inside of it.
This is what we want.
And a special shout out to all of the incredible Jews around America that have been arrested for protesting for the Palestinians.
They are heroes. You want to talk about civil disobedience, they got that down.
And you know, my social media is full of videos of that of our Jewish brothers and sisters getting arrested because they're speaking out for Palestinians and against the Palestinian genocide, so definitely would love absolutely.
Why are they speaking out because a horrible atrocity happened to their people not that long ago, in the lifetime of their grandparents, and they refuse to let it happen again and in their name it is it's a double offense. And it's to your point. I mean, who's the ones getting arrested the most on Capitol Hill? Like three hundred I think happened in one weekend. Is It is incredible And we feel so supported and so loved by organizations
like Jewish Voice for Peace. They're my favorite ones. God, I love them, Rabbis for Human Rights, even internal organizations inside of Israel that denounce the occupation and support liberation of Palacin and people and look for ways for us to live in peace together. This is why, and we have to make this disclaimer because people like to use this stuff against us, But this is why. This is not about people. This is about resisting a government and the people are together.
Yes, okay, So a lot has changed since we last talked to you and Isism, and I want to get an idea of how things sit since there was a I called it a cease fire but there was a pause in bombing. Oh, and that has resumed. Let's let's let's talk about that. How are you feeling now? Are you feeling more optimistic? Is there more information that is there more that we can do? And in that moment, I know that I was feeling hopeful that that would last longer than the five.
Yeah, I squashed your hope a little bit there when we talked about it earlier. Uh, there's it's weird. It's weird to balance two very opposing feelings at the same time. It's weird to go, oh, they they unpaused and then in one day killed seven hundred people, And if it was seven hundred Israelis people would be so and rightfully upset. Why are people not upset about seven hundred and one
day after, right right after the pause? And so there's a part of us that we're just like, oh, come on, please, what are you doing?
Be mad?
We're mad, and it's never going to end. And you just see the journalists and Gaza who are getting thinner and getting more depressed and getting just less hopeful, and it's just so devastating. And then so I hold that I hold that pain and that frustration and then at the same time, I've never seen the world so united, and I think the media thought we would we would forget. And I know Palestinians will never forget, but I think we thought you would forget. And the media looked around
and they're like, oh, people aren't forgetting. People, non Arabs, non Palestinians aren't dropping this. And I've never seen this before. And so at the end of the day, there is this weird hope because I've never felt so supported and loved by the international community the way I do now. I am not talking about governments, although there have been governments who've come out and support I am talking about citizens worldwide that are just saying no, I I'm sorry.
We didn't see it before, but we hear you now, we see you now when we're with you, and we're not going to stop talking about.
The hundreds of millions incredible.
So I hold those dualities and it's a constant, daily, minute by minute back and forth between those two feelings.
Resistance is beautiful, sir, Yes, sir. Another incredibly viral video of yours takes place at a shopping mall on Black Friday, and that one was booming. I saw the numbers on that. I was like, man, he is killing it. Okay. Anyway, right after that there was the pause and then the bombings, and I could not imagine. I could imagine, but I couldn't. You know, it's the same and it's different. Yeah, I know.
I you know that I mentioned to you before. You know that I hope that I'm able to be as good a brother to you in this moment as I possibly can be. But I kind of want to get your thoughts on where the situation is in Gaza now, just how you feel about how things are going.
And so, you know, for seventy five years, we've had to deal with this terrorist project known as Israel. For seventy five years. Nineteen forty eight, both sides of my grandparents were kicked out, no no chance of return. For a lot of us Palestinians, our parents, our grandparents, our great grandparents, they hang the keys of their homes on their walls.
This is known. So if you enter a Palaesinian house.
Of these some some of like some sort of key or something on the wall of the homes that they were kicked out of. So we've been dealing with this for seventy five years and to the point of Suzann my sister, what she's saying about, like, it feels so good that people are recognizing us because the first time in seventy five years that we feel like someone hears our voice say okay, the first time the feeling she has, all of us Palestinians have, this is the first time
we feel like our voice is being heard. Seventy five years of drowning, being murdered and kicked out, and our culture being stolen from us. You know, they say, like the Israeli occupier saying that they created the food that we eat, they dance the way that we dance, they created the coffea that's ours everything, right, it's ethnic cleansing. They want to take like the dementor, you know, the dementor that sucks the soul, just everything, everything that you are.
It's now us, right, what is ethnical that they're going to ethnically cleanse it and take it where for themselves and say we created all of this.
Oh well, listen, I know a thing or two about that. I'm trying back. I'm sure you do.
And so for us, this is what we've been dealing with. And then it got our land got shrunk and shrunk and trunk and trunk and trunk all the way to we have because is that which is twenty five miles, and we have.
West Bank.
As we're at today, twenty twenty three, with as a two point three million people as of today, as of this recording, one point nine million, as sends, one point nine million completely displaced, thirty thousand murdered, ten thousand of them being children. And that does not include the people under the rubble.
So do the math.
One point nine million displaced in sixty days. That is a murder and a crime against all of mankind.
Okay, now this conversation is going to a little bit quicker than the one before. What do you say to people now after to your point, Israel has well defended itself, has responded, over responded in my estimation, but resistance, what do you say to people who say, well, they drop leaflets, they're trying to get to the tunnels, they're trying to root out sure a hamas so that this doesn't happen in Israel? Again, what do you say to people who have that position?
Sure, that's like saying, you know here in America that the school shooter sent an email or dropped off some flyers before he shot up everyone in the school. So I ask to the American viewers who are listening now, is that an acceptable response, that the shooter of a school sent an email before he shot up the school, That the shooter of a school sent out some flyers before he did it. It is murderous, and our occupier is murderous. Our occupier is soulless, and our occupier dropping
leaflets with bombs means nothing to us. They have no morals and they are trying to sell morality, and we know that it does not come from them. This is satanic, is what it is.
Do you feel that the flyer, the dropping of the flyers maybe has something to do with keeping a narrative or crafting or cultivating a nrative to sell it.
They gave them a dance morning, see exactly.
It's a way to sell it, to convince the American public that it's okay to murder children. So I believe the American public now was waking up and recognizing this.
And this is what I wanted to ask you, Suzanne. You know there's a lot of people. We're not the only people that can see these videos on TikTok, you know, like your videos and see the videos from like a Sean King. They have to be able to see that. And I'm talking about the Israeli government, not about Jewish people. And I don't think any of us are talking about
We're talking about government. Yes, conversations about a government. That government and their immense intelligence has to know that they are doing what they are doing with the I saw you showed me a video resistance and there was a there's a boy and he was rolling back and forth in pain. And you mentioned there was a special bomb that the so.
Israel uses illegal weapons against children, and one of the weapons that they use is white phosphorus bombs. This is illegal and.
There is at.
Least tens of thousands of videos of white phosphorus bombs being dropped on Palaestinian's Palaesinian children. And the video you saw today that Sean King put up is of a child whose entire body is burned and he's rolling around because he cannot get that tingling feeling.
Out of him. Oh okay, that's what it is.
Yes, Either you are seeing footage of children torn up completely, their body parts ripped apart. Mang their skin just torn off. The weapons that are being dropped are designed to inflict harm. They are designed to annihilate. The bombs that drop have shrapannel in them that cut through, so many people get cut into pieces. You'll see footage of neighborhoods completely turned to dust. And America is funding. These are American bombs
going to Israel. These are two terrorist, colonial, imperialistic nations intentionally murdering Palestinians.
So I want to make sure that we circle back to that, because that's got to feel particularly hurtful to know that the United States has kind of adopted a very strong posture which seems to be in favor of the nation state of Israel and opposed to Palestine. But we're going to circle back to that because that obviously, you know, you two are people that can articulate that better than me.