We've Been Living Through History Long Before It Was Documented

Here’s why your voice matters

Content Warnings: Police Brutality, Racism, War 

I was radicalized in October of 2014.  In my freshman year of high school, the Chicago Police shot Laquan McDonald 16 times and murdered him. I was saddled by so much grief for a boy I had never even met. There was no explanation for the tragedy that had taken place outside of this young man being Black, the same type of Black that I am, and therefore being marked as disposable. I was reaching a point of despair until Chicago's political organizing scene opened its arms to me and I had somewhere to share my grief and people willing to teach me how to use it. 

It is hard to know where to start when something bigger than you sweeps through the world. The occupation of Palestine by Israel began long before its moment of virality in October of this year. There is no guidebook on what to do with the anger, confusion and emotions that come out of it. There is no guidebook on how to use those emotions to get involved with a  movement that has quickly become global, but there are small steps to help join the tide of radical resistance. 

First and foremost, we all need to listen more. Listen and focus. Listen to actively engage and not just react.

An important part of knowing what to do with your energy, how to help or what role you’re able to take can be found by listening to your elders. The genocide in Palestine did not explode out of nowhere. If you are still in university, visit the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) on your campus. The guidance and community you may seek can be found in these spaces. 

It is disheartening and frightening to witness people arguing under the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) posts across social media, accusingly asking why Starbucks is not a part of their boycott list. BDS has been fighting the occupation for 70 years and boycotting has been one of their main strategies. Lists circulating TikTok do not compare to the knowledge and lived experience of this organization, who is also very open about who they add to their boycott list and why. This is not to recommend blindly listening to organizations because they are older but to engage with them while understanding, that despite all the passion and rage you may feel, you do not know it all.

The second thing that may get overlooked is creating.

Art is pivotal to any radical movement. The world is so quick to move on and to forget, but our archival of media is so essential. Palestinian content creator Mariam (@Mxriyum) showcases Palestinian recipes passed down from her mother on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. Since October she has been sharing traditional Palestinian dishes, and preserving her culture and her voice in a unique way. 

Motaz Azaia has been named Gentlemen’s Quarterly (GQ) Middle East’s Man of the Year for his photojournalism in Gaza. Azaia is active in Gaza capturing the ongoing cruelties and destruction happening to the civilians and their homes. This work is not new to him, if you scroll through his Instagram page he has posted Palestinians in front of their destroyed homes since May of this year. The destruction is not all his camera captures though as their are portraits of Palestinian men and families as he documents the duality they have experienced in occupied state as they attempt to live their life in a constant state of war. It is so important to preserve what Palestinians have created as they survive right now. 

If you write, sing, draw, paint , or anything remotely creative, you wield a powerful tool to engage in this fight. An idea that circulates the internet often is ‘What we’re living through will be in history books.’ What if we do not document it?

Something very easy we can all easily do, is stop killing off Palestinians in our minds. During revolutionary periods, we tend to distance ourselves from what is currently happening around us. For example, in the United States segregation is taught as something so far behind us, yet all of my grandmothers, who I was close to as I grew up, went to segregated schools. When we see the numbers of the amount of Palestinian people killed, injured, missing we can not kill off the entire population. It is our duty to remain hopeful and disciplined in our fight for those still alive. It is not a lost cause and this occupation is currently happening, we can not afford to ignore it and think of it as something that hs already passed. Do not talk about Palestinians or Palestine in the past tense. We have lost many, but there are still many to fight for. 

My final point is to do the readings and show up to take actions.

Assata Shakur once wrote, “Theory without practice is just as incomplete as practice without theory. The two have to go together.” Reading the books and the essays from Palestinians and about the history of Palestine is essential, unless you’re doing nothing with it. Sitting on the knowledge that you are actively using will keep us at a standstill. If you are learning, host a teach-in with your peers so you learn together, start a virtual book club or make digestible zines if you can. 

The same goes for protesting without doing the learning.Showing up for the protest is great, but when you leave do you know what you’re fighting for? Do you know which river and sea you are chanting about? Do not let someone else do the learning for you. Your original opinion, voice and thoughts are important. 

Please remember we are all human and we can not do everything at once. 

Rely on your community and know you are not fighting and grieving on your own.