“One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it’s too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this.”
Reporter and author Omar El Akkad wrote this tweet, which has been viewed over 10 million times, on October 25th of last year as Israel bombarded Gaza. Fast forward to February 2025 and Gaza is now almost completely flattened after enduring what Amnesty International has described as a “genocide.” At least 45,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed with American weapons and bombs. The Lancet recently reported that the number of dead could be higher than 70,000 casualties. A YouGov poll showed that many Democrats decided to sit home and not vote for Kamala Harris due to President Biden’s complicity in the destruction of Gaza and her failure to center Palestinian life during her campaign.
For those who thought it couldn’t get worse, we are witnessing the authoritarian regime of Donald Trump, a racist criminal who told Israel to “finish the job.” In addition to receiving $290 million from Elon Musk, Trump was also given $100 million from Miriam Adelson on the condition that he’d allow Israel to annex the West Bank. Apparently, Trump decided to go a step further and went all-in last night with a plan to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza. The “America First” President offered US troops and money to take over Gaza, remove all the bombs, and help transform it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.” Earlier today, Trump walked back the plans, because he’s a stable genius.
Regardless, Palestinians are still stateless and suffering. The ongoing genocide, and its celebration from establishment quarters, inspired El Akkad, a reporter who covered the War on Terror, Guantanamo Bay, and Ferguson, to publicly call out America’s hypocrisy in promoting peace, pluralism, and diversity while ignoring its historical complicity in erasing Black and Brown people deemed problematic. His forthcoming book, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, has received rave reviews and is viewed as a necessary, moral wake-up call for our times comparable to James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time and Ta-Nehisi Coates's Between The World and Me.
In this Chai Talk, we discuss whether the rest can still love a country that doesn’t love us back, and if that country is still worth fighting for. Also, we ask whether or not America will be able to publicly take a stand against our country’s ongoing role in genocide and stand up to Trump’s fascism.
Grab a chai and give us a listen!
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