by Dr. E. Faye Williams
(Trice Edney Wire) — I have friends from all over the world. I ran a campaign for the U. S. Congress and used some of them in my campaign. I led my opponent by a high number of points during the last week of the campaign. I had great Labor support—even Teamsters, and for the life of me, I cannot understand why the National union has a hard time supporting VP Harris!
I had a brilliant Jewish woman as my Issues Director and a law school friend as Campaign Manager who was born in Jordan (a friendly nation) and had not even been an activist Palestinian! Both were my friends.
We never made a negative statement about Israel. Yet, AIPAC chose my well-known racist Republican opponent. I’m a Democrat and most Democrats like the Congressional Black Caucus choose moderate to liberal issues and people to support, standing with Israel over 90% of the time, but don’t get fair campaign contributions like others their loyalty deserves. Most of them rarely or never criticize Netanyahu for so many bad acts!
With over 42,000 Palestinians—many innocent children, we rarely hear a word from too many about those who’ve practically been wiped off the face of the earth. When many leaders go to Israel, they don’t even touch the ground where this tragedy continues to occur.
There’re so many tragic things happening in our country. I remember when many of our Jewish friends came to our support as far back as the Civil Rights Movement, and I did have Jewish supporters for my campaign. They gave me hope that one day Jews and non-Jews would work together for fairness for all people and not have to suffer for the sins of others. I pray for that time again.
We rightly regret the tragedy of what happened in Israel, but don’t the Palestinians who were not in Israel that day deserve at least the same kind of concern as we have for Israel? Shouldn’t people of Lebanon being dislocated because of Hezbollah, now have our concern? They had nothing to do with the tragedy in Israel? I don’t know about you, but as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “There comes a time when we must speak out.”
I’m in no way excusing Hamas, but it’s time for Netanyahu to realize enough is enough. It’s also time for AIPAC to stop punishing good people who just want peace and prosperity for all as they do with the courage to speak out. They must be told by good people to cool it, and try to work for peace instead of spreading the war endangering people who’ve committed no crimes against Israel.
Cong. Rashida Tlaib said, “After displacing 2 million people in Gaza without facing any consequences, Israel’s government has now displaced over 1 million in Lebanon. The Israeli military is using the same tactics in Lebanon as in Palestine, leveling entire neighborhoods with “bunker buster” bombs, destroying roads and other civilian infrastructure like medical centers, killing doctors and rescue workers who had nothing to do with last October 7th.” Does continuing to kill innocent people and destroying all they’ve spent a lifetime building solve the problem? I think not. It’s time to speak out.
We’ve just witnessed the tragedy of Hurricane Helene in our own country. As much as we might want to continue sending massive amounts of money to help certain people in other areas, it’s time to turn our attention to the problems at home. Let’s take care of the 9 billion dollars we need, and a question VP Harris is addressing today—”Who will fight for me?” Yes, Rashida, we’re called to work toward a world built on equal rights, human dignity, and freedom from oppression for all. We can do that by voting November 5th for Kamala Harris who is best equipped and willing to answer the call.
(Dr. E. Faye Williams, President of The Dick Gregory Society)
