Day of Planting

space for me. You know, it started out as a way to kind of get over the hump of the week and you know, have a place to vent and all of these things, and as things in this country and around the world have continued to deteriorate, Wednesday I find myself in pretty much a deep place of gratitude, just grateful to having made it halfway through the week. And I don't say that tongue in cheek or even

to be funny. I am seriously like getting through these weeks over the past several years feel like a feat in and of itself, and I think that Wednesday is an important day to kind of take stock with what has transpired thus far, what you have in front of you, but an opportunity to kind of plant your feet for the week. Right at least That's how I've been viewing it, And so I often find myselves in a place of

deep reflection on Wednesdays. And now I kind of understand I'm piecing together why that is, we all set out with certain expectations that we have for the week and things that we'd like to accomplish, and you know, be able to check off or you know, dinner plans or engagements that we're you know making as we ready ourselves for the weekend, that wonderful day and a half that

we get. But I do want us to start to use Wednesdays as a day of kind of planting, if you will, the day to plant your feet firmly in the ground, ground yourself in thinking about where we are

right this week. For the first time in I don't know how long, President Obama released a statement and I say for the first time in a really long time, because I believe that, you know, the reality that after you're done being president of the United States, being president of any you know place, that you get to go and get your you know, life back, that you have the opportunity to regain your space and place as like a human, regular citizen. But sometimes I've gotten really pissed

off at Barack Obama. And I say this, and I love this man, but I've gotten pissed off because I'm just like you know, there have been so many moments over the last eight years where we have needed steady leadership, his voice, in particular his ability to kind of weave narrative and hold, you know, multiple things to be true at the same time, but create a sense of safety and resilience that I don't think presidents before him and

or after him have been able to do. And so when we find ourselves and have found ourselves in this place of deep, deep, deep, you know, frustration and deep fear, we look to people right like Barack Obama. We look to leaders to kind of express for us ways that

we're unable to articulate for ourselves. Now, let me be clear that Gaza and Israel, what Israel is doing to Gaza, what had mass has done to the citizens of Israel, is not something that can be easily parsed apart or understood for that matter, even if you are a historian or a foreign relations expert. It always depends on your perspective, your vantage point, how you were raised, where you were raise, your understanding of justice, of rights, of liberty, of fear,

of all of these things. Which is why I often say that I come to you from the place of humanity as a black queer woman that has lived her life entirely in the United States, whose parents are immigrants to this country, that has known injustice and justice, that has known both relief and devastation at the hands of

this country. So recognizing the precarious place that you find yourself, people losing jobs for articulating their feelings with regard to Israel and Palestine, literally losing their jobs, being written off canceled.

Barack Obama, who has been silent on so much, decided to weigh in to this conflict and did so in what I will say was arguably probably the best way that he could, right as both a man that presided over war, conflict, death and destruction doing things that arguably from a different vantage point, probably shouldn't be have been done in our name. And that's what it means to

be president of the United States. Where drones have drop bombs that are not void of civilian life and civilian casualty, that America probably has more blood on its hands than most countries, right, And that's saying a lot. But when Barack Obama decided to weigh in on this, I thought, oof,

I don't know. I do believe that he walked the line while both understanding his role as a former president, also not undermining the current administration, which is his former vice president, while also holding multiple things to be true at the same time, that you can believe in humanity, justice and freedom for all peoples and not be an anti Semite or anti Palestinian and anti Muslim. That the deaths of thousands of children, thousands of children is not

something that any of us should take lightly. I don't care what fucking border imaginary border that they fall on the side of right. Denying people water, electricity an aid is a violation of international law. I don't care whether or not you are part of the Allied quote unquote axis or not. If you violate law, you violate law. We should not pick and choose who we call out for said violation in who we don't. That's called hypocrisy.

Former President Obama is getting a lot of flat for his comments that I'm gonna share with you pieces of it, not all of it. You can check it out on his Medium page or on Instagram where he reposted it. But I think that it's important to lift up because this is a situation where if you comment on one side or the other, you're canceled. If you don't comment at all. You're canceled right and leaping people in very

precarious positions, namely those that are in the public. I believe in commenting on humanity, on the thousands of lives lost. I don't believe in tailoring things to fit a certain narrative that will work for me at the time. I'm following the reports that are coming out about what the hostages are saying that have been released the latest the two elderly women, and how they're saying that their government abandoned them, how they're saying that they were treated. Well,

what does that say? I don't know. I do want to offer up some of the pieces of what former President Barack Obama said, some of which overall I agree with, and some of which I do not. He writes this in his Thoughts on Israel and Gaza. It's been seventeen days since Hamas launched its horrific attack against Israel, killing over fourteen hundred Israeli citizens, including defenseless women, children, and

the elderly. In the aftermath of such unspeakable brutality, the US government and the American people have shared in the grief of families prayed for the return of loved ones

and rightfully declared solidarity with the Israeli people. As I stayed in an earlier post, Israel has a right to defend its citizens against such wanton violence, and I fully support President Biden's call for the United States to support our longtime ally in going after Hamas, dismantling its military capabilities, and facilitating the safe return of hundreds of hostages to their families. But even as we support Israel, we should also be clear that how Israel prosecutes this fight against

Hamas matters. In particular, it matters as President Biden has repeatedly emphasized that Israel's military strategy abides by international law. Why is Barack Obama writing this because he knows good goddamn well that what the Israeli government has been doing is not abiding by international law and that the world is looking the other way at the use of force against defenseless citizens Gazians. Because to not look away is

then to be called an anti Semite. To not sheeer on the deaths of thousands of children in response to the deaths of fourteen hundred people is somehow to not be on the side of those that are most vulnerable. I can think of no other vulnerable people than children. And I don't care how those children pray. I don't care what those children look like. What we know is what we are seeing and hearing and reading and watching

with our own eyes. Whether it's one report that comes out that says it Israel bombed a hospital, whether it's the Palestinian group that led a bombing of a hospital. What we do know is that there have been countless bombs that have been dropped since those fourteen hundred people that are massacred. Why do I need to part and parcel who because thousands are dead, Bridges that were supposed to be carrying humanitarian and aid were blown up, That

fucking matters. It doesn't make you a bad person to say that that should matter because if it was putin that was doing that in Ukraine, which, by the way, there is no comparison as to what is happening into these two places, right, And I really really disagreed with President Biden's comparison of the two. The only comparison is death, absolutely, but how and at the hands of what and why?

Completely and totally not comparable. Obama goes on to say this upholding these values is important for its own sake because it is morally just and reflects our belief in the inherent value of every human life. Upholding these values is also vital for building alliances and shaping international opinion, all of which are critical for Israel's long term security. This enormously difficult task, he writes, This is an enormously difficult task. War is always tragic, and even the most

carefully planned military operations often put civilians at risk. As President Biden noted this his recent visit to Israel, America itself has at times, many times fall in short of our higher values when engaged in war, and in the aftermath of nine to eleven, the US government wasn't interested in heeding the advice of even our allies when it came to the steps we took to protect ourselves against

al Qaeda. Let us be clear. If you don't know Muslim person that was living inside of New York or anywhere for that matter, after nine to eleven, ask them about their treatment. Ask them about being told to sign up on some type of server right where your every move could be followed to ensure that you weren't a terrorist. What was created during nine to eleven, the Patriot Act that allowed for the American government to spy on its

own people, all in defense of what our freedom. The United States government has always gone above and beyond the values, the true values of democracy, justifying heinous, fucking acts in our name. We are told American history. Other people that have been at the other side of the gun, the other side of the drone, the other side, have their

own stories to tell. Both can be true. He goes on to write this, now, after this systematic massacre of Israeli citizens, excuse me, a massacre that invokes some of the darkest memories of persecution against the Jewish people, it is understandable that many Israelis have demanded that their government do whatever it takes to root out Hamas and make

sure such attacks never happen again. Moreover, hamasa's military operations are deeply embedded with Gaza, and its leadership seems to intentionally hide amongst civilians, thereby endangering the very people they claim to represent. Still, the world is watching closely as events in the region unfold, and any Israeli military strategy that ignores the human costs could ultimately backfire. Already, thousands of Palestinians have been killed in the bombing of Gaza,

many of them children. Hundreds of thousands have been forced from their homes. The Israeli government's decision to cut off food, water, and electricity to a captive civilian populations threatens not only to worsen a growing humanitarian crisis, it could further harden Palestinian attitudes for generations, erode global support for Israel, play into the hands of Israel's enemies, and undermine long term

efforts to achieve peace and stability in the region. This is one of the boldest paragraphs I have read yet, because to state what we know, what we have seen, what we have heard with our own line eyes as fact, is to open yourself wide for criticism and to being called in anti Semite, Because what he is arguing here is that to attack and continue to kill thousands of children in the name of your own self protection is going to create the very mindset, the terrorist mindset that

you say that you're trying to about, because of what they are living through and experiencing, and if the world is watching for the first time and seeing wait a minute, these newspapers, these journalists that are reporting on this show no empathy, no care. You're seeing hundreds of thousands of people march in the streets across countries because of what they are seeing taken place. So to come out and say what we all know as a former president of

the United States cannot be taken lightly. He goes on to say this, It's therefore important that those of us supporting Israel and its time of need encourage a strategy that can encapit incapacitate Hamas while minimizing further civilian casualties.

Israel's recent shift to allow relief trucks into Gaza, prompted in part by the Biden administrations behind the scenes diplomacy, is an encouraging step, but we need to continue to lead the international community in accelerating critical aid and supplies

to an increasingly desperate Gaza population. And while the prospects of future peace may seem more distant than ever, we should call on all of the key actors in the region to engage with those Palestinian leaders and organizations that recognize Israel's right to exist to begin articulating a viable pathway for Palestinians to achieve their legitimate aspirations for self determination, because that is the best and perhaps only way to

achieve the lasting peace and security most Israeli and Palestinian families. Yearn four. He provides at the end links to different articles that provide background on the conflict and history. If you all choose to read it, I want to end with not his ending, but a paragraph that I think

is extraordinarily important because it's true. Finally, in dealing with what is an extraordinary complex situation where so many people are in pain and passions are understandably running high, all of us need to do our best to put our best values rather than our worst fears, on display. That means actively opposing anti Semitism in all its forms everywhere. It means rejecting anti Muslim, anti Arab, or anti Palestinian sentiment.

It means recognizing that Israel has the right to exist, that the Jewish people have claimed to a secure homeland

where they have an ancient historical roots. It means acknowledging that Palestinians have also lived in disputed territories for generations, that many of them were not only displaced when Israel was formed, but continue to be forcibly displaced by a settler movement that too often has received tacit or explicit support from the Israeli government, that Palestinian leaders who have been willing to make concessions for a two state solution have too often had little to show for their efforts,

and that it is possible for the people of good Will to champion Palestinian rights and oppose certain Israeli government policies in the West Bank and Gaza without being anti Semitic. If we care about keeping open the possibility of peace, security and dignity for future generations of Israeli and palisade and children, as well as for our own children, then it falls upon all of us to at least make the effort to model in our own words and actions

the kind of world we want them to inherit. I say this again as I close today, that Wednesdays have become a day for me of reflection on what has transpired in the week, what I'm looking forward to, but also where I'm standing firm in the present moment. We are all in need of deep moments and times of reflection of space when we're allowed to just be and understand that the world that we're living in is so rapidly changing our heads might as well be on a swivel.

It is important to take space, to take time to read, to consume, and not just regurgitate what it is that we see, but to really have our own analysis and self awareness. We deserve those moments, and we need them more now than ever because we are dealing with really complicated,

layered issues and emotions. And so I do hope that you will use these days that I call Woke Wednesdays, not as a day to just rage against the machine, but as a day to be truly conscious of what is happening in the world and your role in it, because we all have a role to play. We may not see the arc bend towards justice, but it is all of our jobs to help it bend. Nonetheless, that is it for me today, dear friends on Woke af

as always, Power to the people and to all the people. Power, Get woke and stay woke as fuck.