Who counts?

Whose stories get told, get heard, get amplified?

So much of politics is driven by stories. Warehousing children, with or without their parents, should be horrifying to us at face value. But a story of a single sick child deported, or a single image sways so much public attention and opinion, at least in the short term. Policy is important, but policy doesn’t invigorate, it doesn’t drive conversation, it doesn’t make it’s own gravity.

It is in this way that words are dangerous. Without words there would be no change, no struggle, no resistance. Words inspire, words comfort, words unite. Words allow us to communicate, and learn, across distance, time, and struggle. When asked why I write (for Public Square Amplified), I said “Stories, and the words that compose them, change the world.” This is why words are always the enemy of the oppressor and a tool of the oppressed.

…

In an ironic, or maybe sad, twist, Palestinian Joy was, ultimately, resistance. Instead of the banned flag raising the organizers held an extremely successful and well attended celebration of Palestinian culture next to a bare flag pole. Somehow even the American Flag that flies there 364 other days a year chose to side with the oppressors. The Administration decided no flags would fly at Town Hall that day. But if the word resistance is hate speech then what are these acts of resistance against hate? 

From “Man” to “Resistance," Oppressors Always Fear Words by Matt Dragon

We can’t let the stories be dismissed, fall away, or be forgotten. We must wallow in our shame. We must tell the stories of those whose voices have been locked up, kidnapped, stolen, or killed.

Our stories are what make us human. Our stories are why we fight for one another. Telling and hearing our stories is an act of love, defiance, and resistance. Our stories are stronger than their AI slop, their lies, and their disinformation.

Our stories can’t be taken away.

Action

Having been thwarted in the democratic process, NJ supporters of the unconstitutional IHRA Bill are trying to pressure the newly elected Governor to pass the language as an Executive Order. Apparently the lessons of empowering a unitary executive are lost on them. The IHRA conflates criticism of Israel with antisemitism, is internally inconsistent (no double standards for Israel, yet Israel is the only country’s government we can’t call racist or compare to Nazi Germany), and even it’s primary author, has spent the last decade rejecting efforts to codify it into law.

Tell Governor Sherrill you don’t support limits on free speech, especially when they exist solely to support an apartheid regime, actively committing a genocide and other crimes against humanity.

🚨 URGENT: TELL GOV. SHERRILL TO PROTECT FREE SPEECH & SAY NO TO IHRA🚨 | CAIR NJ

Watching

So glad this guy agreed to talk to them. There’s so many of these folks being drawn out by the terror being inflicted on us by ICE. People like this are credible messengers to other folks who have lived life on the sidelines.

Riot: from Rebellion to Redemption | PBS

An in-depth look at The Newark Riots, a conflict that forever changed life in the area.

Reading

Riot or rebellion? PBS special explores the 1967 Newark uprising by Ande Richards

This is the type of history and documentation that Republicans hate. There’s no profit motive, no white washing, just history, as retold by people who experienced it. The power of these stories is why they ban teaching history and ban books that represent points of view they’re uncomfortable with.

When Newark police arrested and beat a Black taxi driver during a routine traffic stop on July 12, 1967, the incident ignited long-simmering tensions in the city’s Black neighborhoods, triggering protests and confrontations that escalated into six days of unrest and left 26 people dead.

Years later, filmmaker Kevin McLaughlin recalled a family friend telling him to create a film documenting the uprising.

“Do it now,” the friend told him, “Before everyone who lived through it is gone.”

Riot or rebellion? PBS special explores the 1967 Newark uprising - nj.com

Late actor Andre Braugher narrates "Riot: From Rebellion to Redemption," exploring the 1967 events that left 26 dead and reshaped the city's future.

The Woman Alex Pretti Was Killed Trying to Defend Is an EMT. Federal Agents Stopped Her From Giving First Aid. by C. Frances

“I was literally begging the agent who was holding me back to let me do CPR,” she recalled. “Because I knew that if he wasn’t pulseless at that point already, he was going to become pulseless very, very soon.”

Immediately following the shooting, the EMT, who was carrying trauma supplies at the scene, attempted to reach Pretti before being intercepted and held back by a masked officer. The medic’s identity and place at the scene were corroborated by an attorney with the Minnesota branch of the National Lawyers Guild. The EMT’s account of events is supported by publicly available video evidence and court documents.

Federal Agents Stopped EMT From Giving Alex Pretti First Aid

One of the women Alex Pretti was killed trying to defend is an EMT. Federal agents stopped her from giving him first aid.

NJ lawmakers advance trio of immigration bills during tense meeting by Sophie Nieto-Munoz

Republicans are so ignorant to what’s coming for them. Trying to attack people for calling their neighbors “undocumented” instead of “criminal illegal alien,” which honestly gives strong ET vibes, is so far out of touch with voters. The midterms should be a bloodbath for Republicans, even if ICE does lay low until then. We can’t let voters forget about the brutal goon squads, even if they aren’t focusing on occupying a single metro area and getting daily news coverage.

The meeting was tense. While arguing against a bill, Assemblyman Paul Kanitra (R-Ocean) raised his voice to criticize audience members for using language like “undocumented.” Assemblyman Joe Danielsen (D-Somerset) told Kanitra he was out of order and stopped him multiple times from continuing his comments. Some activists refused to take questions from Kanitra.

The Truth About Gaza's Dead – Part 1: How We Got Here by Feroze Sidhwa

It’s incredibly sad to have been “right” and yet feeling like we have lost at the same time. As I wrote in January 2024, just a few months into the genocide:

We've heard a litany of excuses for the genocide that's happening in Gaza. And we've even been told that genocide isn't a word to just throw around and that serious people shouldn't call this a genocide.

Palestinian Lives Matter by Matt Dragon

The International Association of Genocide Scholars, the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Amnesty International, B’Tselem (a leading Israeli human rights organization), Physicians for Human Rights Israel, virtually every Palestinian human rights organization, hundreds of international legal scholars, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security, and many of Israel’s and the world’s leading Holocaust and genocide scholars including Omer Bartov, Raz Segal, Amos Goldberg, Martin Shaw, Marianne Hirsch, Daniel Blatman, and Michael Rothberg have all concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The only relevant authority that hedged on this question is Human Rights Watch (HRW), which concluded that Israel’s actions “may amount to the crime of genocide” in Gaza. Meanwhile, Kenneth Roth, who served as director of HRW for nearly three decades, and Aryeh Neier, the organization’s co-founder and a Holocaust survivor, have both concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

https://zeteo.com/p/real-gaza-death-toll-what-we-know

 “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.”

Omar El Akkad

What's next? by Steve Grove

I believe that local news organizations are poised to provide the most value in times of crisis. Our journalists know our neighbors and our neighborhoods. They know our leaders and organizers. They understand our history. The depth of familiarity and local nuance they bring to breaking and quickly evolving news is unrivaled. It’s been heartening to see so many national outlets praise the work of local media during their time in Minnesota.

What's next? - by Steve Grove - A View from Minnesota

Finding a way forward in Minnesota might provide a playbook for the country

The Political Science Underneath Minnesota’s Defeat of ICE by Van Jackson

The good-news aspect is quite simply that Minnesotans—through mutual aid, popular opinion, and a vast repertoire of resistance—have forced a tactical retreat from ICE and the Trump administration.  Multiple reports indicate the White House realizes it has lost public support for its paramilitary operations in Minnesota, leading to a partial retreat from the state under the guise of “draw down” following a “surge” (the words of border czar Tom Homan).

https://www.un-diplomatic.com/p/the-political-science-underneath