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Why am I
Why are we
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2. |
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3. |
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There is no distance between me and the sidewalk, for I am the sidewalk.
The first time I went out for the purpose of being with people in over a year was to protest in Richmond.
My parents and I drove an hour north to Monroe Park. Every time I enter a vehicle with my father I am
afraid of us getting pulled over by the police.
I learned about Palestine when I was 19. When I was younger, I heard a lot about Israel. I grew up in
Long Island, New York and went to a constellation of bar and bat mitzvahs when I was a teen. I know
people from childhood who went on birthright and mission trips to Israel right after high school. They
never said a word about Palestine in all those years.
There is no distance between me and the sidewalk, for I am the sidewalk.
This was my mother's first protest. She said "it's funny that this is my first time protesting and it's not even
for us." And I told her "but it is for us." "It is for us," she echoed.
We hear all the time in America that when Black people, black women, black trans women are free; we're
all free. Palestine is the largest open-air prison in the world, and America holds the largest percentage of
the world's prison population. Our struggles are and have always been connected. We have to insist on
the intersectionality of movements.
"This is for us, she echoed."
We were handed signs and small flags and pamphlets. Palestinian elders stood next to and took photos
with Hasidic Jews in front of us. My mother learned the chants and phrases quickly in between speeches
about Gaza and the evictions and the history of the struggle.
"This is for us."
I think a lot of people are afraid of Palestine because in a way we are taught that everything is a black box
that requires expert study in order to understand. Afraid because they go decades of their lives without
ever hearing about it or only being fed propaganda. I don't think that's true anymore, with the case of
Palestine; Palestinians are a displaced, policed, and disenfranchised people and I don't think it needs to
be any more complicated than that.
On the ride home, my parents talked the entire way. They talked about Palestine, they talked about
abolition, about the police, about their parents. They talked about guns and crime and the difference
between what is legal and what is right. They learned about Palestine many years older than I had, but
came to nearly all the same conclusions in a similarly short period of time.
Freedom is never an endpoint, we'll always recognize new oppressions and struggles. We all have a rich
history of struggle; and International solidarity is how we win.
There is no distance between me and the sidewalk, for I am the sidewalk.
There is no distance between me and the sidewalk, for I am the sidewalk.
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5. |
X (feat. Seb Zel)
01:54
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I can still be who I want
We still have time to be who we want
I still have time to be who I want
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6. |
come as you are
05:17
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10. |
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11. |
ko'u inoa (Bonus Track)
07:34
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yaz lancaster New York, New York
black transdiscplinary artist ꩜ they/them ☆ lenapehoking
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