Letter To The Editor
Image Description: Red retro TV graphic with the words “BREAKING NEWS” appearing inside the TV in red writing. The images the TV are of the UCLA encampments and the images surrounding the TV in vignette are of the Palestinian crisis.
Design by Erin Choi.
On this evening’s news, you narrated to us
a real lesson on the ins and outs
of the American
education system, which currently rests
on stolen land and
makeshift barricades of
plywood,
umbrellas,
zip ties, and walls
of young student bodies, whose
Limbs remain stained with the black and blue inkings
of roommates, parents, and
jail support,
Who, in the absence of chain-link fences, have instead chosen
to link their complicit arms together as their
Eyes still stream with bloodied rivulets of
tear gas,
fireworks,
bear mace,
and paralyzing
disillusionment, while their
Shoes remain streaked with the faded trails of the paint and chalk and
Crayola Washable Markers that lay
discarded at the foot of the non-people’s Library
building (which, against all odds, has withstood the disturbing and frankly brutal attacks of
removable graffiti and
radicalist left-wing protest posters that violently
exceed the 30×30-inch guidelines),
which had been frantically kicked aside by
teenagers freshly released
from the R*nald R**gan Medical Center, which they were only able to access by way
of Uber and Zipcar after
law enforcement blocked ambulances from treating the youth who were
bludgeoned with scaffolding rods and Bird scooters
on live television
for three hours straight, which was of course happening when
the cops could have stopped
the Proud Boys who decided to pay their local
student encampment
a visit as soon as they were released
from their 9-5 jobs–
although, to be fair,
these men are just Patriots who understand that
the real work to be done lies
in
taking back our campuses,
which have somehow become overrun with
students, of all things,
who are not yet a lost generation, but
could very well be the last,
whose illegal peaceful protest tent city became the instigator of
clashes and scuffles and stand-offs
that turned rodents into warfare and
classmates into comrades,
which is also the place where
the same kids that feared school shooters
are now staring down
state troopers who
train sniper rifles on undergraduates at the orders of their own Chancellor, who is finally
cracking down
on the crimes of
camping on your own campus and
foolishly believing
in the First Amendment, which really is more of a suggestion
than a sure thing, so now
All we can do is watch
the students watch the prison buses wait
next to the same building that houses
Gender studies and African American studies, which,
fun fact,
sits right across from the very hall that saw the assassination
of two Black Panthers, which, today,
continues to bear witness
to the forcible dispersal and arrest
of its most vulnerable community members, whose
Hearts are now
bruising,
bleeding,
breaking
with the realization that
it is impossible to
fix a fixed system
and Bail ourselves out
of a genocide,
thanks to your blind eyes and your “hands tied” that
aren’t even bound, they’ve just gotten stuck
in your oh-so-deepening pockets—
And yet, for all of your reliable investigative on-the-ground coverage,
you still manage to speak shit about
our movement
without uttering a
single
word about
Gaza.
LINKS OF SUPPORT
Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) – direct support to displaced families in Gaza, raises funds for food, aid, and women’s hygiene products
https://secure.everyaction.com/wroEGYAZS0-cUwhdirqSmQ2
Muslim Aid USA (MAUSA) – raises money for clean water, medication/medical equipment, and sanitation for communities in Gaza
https://www.mausa.org/where-we-work/palestine/
American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA) – provides refugee support in Palestine, Lebanon, and Jordan
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) – funds medical humanitarian aid in Gaza, Haiti, Sudan, and more
