"A time comes when silence is betrayal."

Attributed to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. but he was quoting from a group letter from clergy

Maybe the difference between myself and others is how long it is before that time comes.

Last week was a month, at least here in West Orange, NJ.

• Saturday - I saw Seeds for Liberation and that hit hard. You should absolutely see it if you have a chance.

• Monday - The Board of Education voted to fire 77 teachers (for good) and 230 paraprofessionals (who will be privatized).

• Tuesday - Mayor Susan McCartney had town employees powerwash the Pride flag off the Town Hall steps, with no plan to replace it, and some vague references to America 250 when she got called out for it.

• Thursday - NJ Citizen Action PAC endorsed Justin Goldsman for Town Council. Justin had a long history of progressive leadership, before being invited into the machine and gladly accepting. But if opting into the dying machine wasn’t enough of a red flag, for supposed grassroots, citizen supporting, good government organizations, years of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim posts online definitely should have been.

So given all that, how is one supposed to be silent?

Yesterday would have been my Dad’s 79th birthday, but he only made it to 69-years-old, and in doing so, graciously missed a bunch of the most recent episodes of the shit-show and the horrors. But he was alive, and I wasn’t, when King quoted a letter from clergy in a speech opposing the Vietnam war, something my dad couldn’t stay silent about. We share that. Both generally people comfortable not talking much, but who really get rolling if someone brought up something we cared passionately about. (Yeah, I know I post thousands of words per week, but I could also sit in a room full of people and not utter a single word, something he’d also feel comfortable doing.)

Enforcing silence is why people describe things as “complicated.” Because they want you to worry you haven’t thought through everything, or there’s an angle you haven’t considered. But the next time someone describes something as complicated, ask them to explain why it’s complicated. Why isn’t it as simple as you’re stating it is. Put the onus on them, because nothing we’re experiencing today is actually complicated. The solutions are simple, and in reach, those with the power to enact them just prefer the status quo.

This is why so much effort is put into silencing dissent. When you ignore, silence, intimidate the opposition you get to paint the silence as support for the status quo. When anyone dares to speak up, or act out, they attack, because the most dangerous things to power are doubt, curiosity, and truth.

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Watching

I want to make something absolutely clear to you. It takes zero courage to love you. … Now let’s tear this world apart and build a better one.

It seems like maybe this was off script, but I do appreciate the phrasing, intentional or accidental, of tearing it apart instead of down, considering how language is policed, and tearing something down can be misrepresented in bad faith more easily than tearing something apart.

Reading

NY school district pays $125k settlement to HS student whose Palestine-related art they erased by Marisa Kabas

Jane Khan knows what it’s like to have her identity erased in the most literal sense. As part of a years-long tradition for graduating seniors at Half Hollow Hills High School West in Dix Hills, NY, Jane received a designated parking spot in her school’s parking lot. Per the tradition, she personalized the space, painting a watermelon with a keffiyeh, symbols of Palestinian solidarity. But in September 2024, mere weeks into the new school year and without warning, school administrators painted over her design. The move came just days after a photo of the parking space was posted by an angry parent in a pro-Israel group with nearly 60k members.

…

Jane’s design included the phrase “peace be upon you,” her name in Arabic, and her nickname. She’d spent two weeks before school began decorating the spot with help from others, including a close Jewish friend and the friend’s mother. 

It also included the watermelon with the keffiyeh print, which the lawsuit notes “has long been a symbol of Palestinian solidarity and pride. Because it contains the same colors as the Palestinian flag, it arose as a symbol to replace display of the flag itself, which was banned by Israel in 1967.” Only the keffiyeh-print watermelon was painted over.

https://www.thehandbasket.co/p/settlement-student-palestine-watermelon-keffiyeh-half-hollow-hills-long-island

New Jersey voters have opportunity to send progressives to Congress by Nicholas Gatto

The kids are alright. "Primaries are the main way for voters to hold their party accountable." Love when college students understand the thing grown ass adults refuse to wrap their head around. Every Primary should be contested, even if we like the incumbent, because debate and policy commitments are what drive our democracy. Democratic primaries pull candidates left, and all Primaries force candidates to state their policy commitments so we can hold them accountable. That's why machine candidates and shitty incumbents hate them.

Primaries are the main way for voters to hold their party accountable. New Jersey's primaries will be held on June 2 this year, with the voter registration deadline on May 12. Anyone registered as an Independent or as a Democrat in New Jersey can cast their vote, and Rutgers students who live on campus can choose to register in NJ-6. 

A healthy democracy needs informed voters. Whether you are someone who feels disenfranchised from the electoral system or someone who votes in every election, June 2 is the time to make your voice heard in New Jersey. Dr. Adam Hamawy, John Hsu and Mussab Ali are three progressives running in our state, but there are more candidates across New Jersey and the U.S. who are ready to fight for a better future. They only need your vote to start.

Mamdani Condemns NYC Expo Promoting Property Sales in Israeli West Bank Settlements by Noah Hurowitz

“Mayor Mamdani is deeply opposed to the real estate expo this evening that includes the promotion of the sale of land in settlements in the Occupied West Bank,” said Sam Raskin, a spokesperson for Mamdani, in a statement to The Intercept. “These settlements are illegal under international law and deeply tied to the ongoing displacement of Palestinians.”

Mamdani Condemns NYC Expo Promoting Property Sales in Israeli West Bank Settlements

Past real estate expos that included illegal Israeli settlements have come under scrutiny for discrimination — and led to violent confrontations.

Biden’s Genocide Squad Must Be Stopped Before They Strike Again by Harrison Mann

Not so for the small inner circle of Biden advisers who gave Haines her orders. The men behind Joe Biden’s genocidal “bear hug” policy of unconditional US support for the Israeli government are now popping up everywhere from Stephen Colbert to the op-ed pages of the New York Times to their own podcasts, presenting themselves as responsible experts critiquing Trump’s chaotic foreign policy. The Biden guys, far from seeking anonymity or amnesty, expect to be rewarded for their performance in Gaza with continued influence in the Democratic Party and powerful roles in the next administration. That’s why, even knee-deep in multiple Trump crises, we can’t afford to ignore the ambitions of Biden’s top advisers.

…

What would accountability for Blinken, Sullivan, et al, in addition to their Trump administration counterparts, look like? The Department of Justice could investigate them for violating federal laws governing arms transfers. Congress could ratify the Rome Statute, making them eligible for trials at The Hague, or pass laws making it easier for victims’ families to sue US officials. The US could even sign an extradition treaty with a future Palestinian state.

More realistic in the near term is political accountability. Politicians who solicit advice from Biden’s genocide squad deserve to be treated the same way as those who take money from AIPAC: Unworthy of our trust on issues of morality and national security and dangerously out of touch with Democratic voters.

https://open.substack.com/pub/zeteo/p/biden-genocide-squad-blinken-sullivan-stopped

EXCLUSIVE: Michigan Graduation Speaker Who Honored Pro-Palestine Students Speaks Out Amid Backlash by Prem Thakker

So there’s much less at stake for me than there are for student protesters, for international students, for contingent faculty who have had to bear the brunt, over the course of years, of the university’s efforts to really clamp down on free speech. So I don’t want to put myself in that heroic tradition, that admirable tradition, per se. I think that what’s happening to me is of a piece with what happened, what has been happening to student protesters, but the consequences for them have been much more severe. I have no expectation that anything like what has happened to student protesters will happen to me. If it does, then we will have another conversation.

I'm afraid to tell you what I want by Joy Sullivan

It’s taken me 40 years to understand that my ambition is inherent to who I am. I no longer pathologize my perfectionism. Instead, I honor my ferocious need to get it right. I accept this as the birthright of every artist and writer who must commit to her vision with some level of neuroticism. Obsession, after all, is the impetus for all interesting art.

On the glowing dung pile of shame, I refuse to add my own excellence.

But, as a woman, I’ve found it increasingly hard to admit or even openly share my goals and milestones. Recently, I wrote an essay about how to make 60K in a year on Substack and a lot of readers (mostly women) got mad: When did you become a sellout? This is capitalism! One woman repeatedly commented in caps: HAS THIS ACCOUNT BEEN HACKED?

That same week, a male author I follow wrote a newsletter detailing how he makes 70K every single month. I ran to his comment section only to find exactly zero attacks on his morality. In the service of anti-capitalism, it seems we continually make it women’s responsibility to get smaller.

Perhaps this is why women, on average, are more reluctant to invest, own businesses, acquire wealth, and adapt to technology. Ambition has a higher cost for us. Achieving and earning begin to mean something about our goodness, our morality, and our authenticity as artists.

I'm afraid to tell you what I want

Girl boss vs girl moss

To ensure safe roads for all, NJ must eliminate non-safety traffic stops by Lauren Aung

When a driver is pulled over for one of these minor violations — such as equipment violations like a broken taillight or administrative violations like expired registration — that is known as a non-safety traffic stop. These violations rarely contribute to dangerous or deadly accidents; in New Jersey from 2010 to 2023, headlights, signal lights, other lights, mirror, window, or windshield violations of any kind contributed to only 0.38% (45 out of 11,750) of fatal crashes.

Non-safety traffic stops damage the relationship between the public and police, especially among communities of color. They are often used to conduct pretextual stops, in which an officer uses a minor traffic violation to initiate a stop and pursue further investigation in hopes of discovering more serious offenses. They can lead to high-pressure and violent interactions with officers over trivial infractions that are inconsequential to road safety.

Non-safety traffic stops — and by proxy, pretextual stops — are a significant source of over-policing in Black and brown communities. New analysis of more than six million traffic stops in New Jersey between January 2009 and May 2021 found that Black people accounted for 18.8% of all drivers pulled over, despite comprising 8.2% of New Jersey drivers, and Black drivers accounted for 36.5% of all searches.

I wrote a similar Letter to the Editor back in 2021:

Many towns already have separate departments responsible for parking enforcement who could also enforce traffic laws. The police would still pull over drivers they suspected were under the influence or who were driving recklessly and creating a safety issue. But they would be barred from stopping drivers for minor infractions. This would save lives. Contact your representatives and tell them you want their help getting the police out of traffic enforcement. We owe it to our neighbors.

Get the police out of traffic enforcement