I’ve recently learned that peace is a byproduct of freedom, not the other way around. Sit with that thought, I am. Since none of us are free until all of us are free, it appears that feeling, peaceful is an invitation for me to radically address what freedom means to me.
In this moment, I’m shattered… I’m a recovering Zionist. By this I mean I’m being tasked to reevaluate my relationships to both Israel and Judaism. I’m being tasked to detangle my beliefs, the very core foundation of who I am, my ancestral lineage AND at the same time process acts of brutality that I will never be able to comprehend.
During BLM I had to learn all the ways my white skin walked me through privilege at the same time my Jewishness placed me in oppression. So much history I was never taught. I was as uneducated about race in the United States as I now I find myself uneducated about Israel.
In January 2024 I will be launching my book on generational trauma at the height of the world’s most visceral example of it. Everything I wrote about is now the epicenter of catastrophe.
We have been told lies about each other. We should talk. And today we need to act.
Antisemitism is real. Islamophobia is real. Palestinian oppression is real. Yt supremacy is real. The list of what’s real is long. And the real problem is fear. It is the byproduct of hate, the opposite of peace. Fear is controlled by power, greed and survivalism and I’m done letting it destroy our lives.
Enough!
The cycle of generational trauma ends with me. I am first and foremost a human, and as such, a member of the human family. I can only hope you feel that includes you.
We must free hostages. We must end apartheid. We must stop genocide. We must call for a ceasefire. Never again, for anyone!
More harm and destruction will only lead to more oppression. More rights stripped away, more fear, more hatred, more lies, more suffering, more death.
My freedom is yours, peace can only be ours. The time is NOW.
