Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Let Gaza Live!
Bill Quigley
14 Jan 2009
🖨️ Print Article

Let Gaza Live!

by Cynthia McKinney

Ms. McKinney, the former Georgia congresswoman and Green
Party presidential candidate, delivers the following remarks in Washington,
D.C., January 10. She was among the passengers on the medical relief boat
Dignity
that was rammed by Israeli warships while on a mission to Gaza, December 30.

We don't see the images.  They are neatly censored from our view in this
country.  But everywhere else around the world the carnage that is Gaza is
being seen and the people are revolted by what they see.

They see dead babies, decapitated bodies, defenseless relief workers
killed.  Maimed men, makeshift morgues, mortified mothers.

They see exploding white phosphorus shells, cluster bombs, depleted uranium
munitions.

They see what is reportedly the world's fourth most powerful military using all
of its power against a defenseless people.

In fact, they are witnesses to 15 days of war crimes, crimes against humanity,
ethnic cleansing, and genocide.

They see Hugo Chavez expel Venezuela's Israeli Ambassador and they see
lawmakers in Ecuador condemn Israel's actions, calling for an investigation
into Israel's crimes against humanity. 

"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid cowers before the
pro-Israel lobby."

And despite the obvious facts of an Israeli-sponsored terror campaign against
Palestinians in Gaza, a piece of territory roughly twice the size of the
District of Columbia, they see the U.S. Congress support a resolution totally
supporting Israel, even though Israel is in violation of U.S. and international
law.

They see Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, swaggering in insult to black
America by initially refusing to seat Roland Burris from Illinois in the
Senate, yet that same Reid cowers before the pro-Israel lobby, and they wonder
why.

And sadly, they see the U.S. President-elect, who roared onto the scene like a
lion, remain as quiet as a lamb in the face of the utter inhumanity of Israel's
actions, and they wonder why.

And then, they see us.  Gathered here in front of the White House,
reaffirming our own humanity, and that of millions of people around the world,
including in Israel, who disagree with this death and destruction.  The
tears of the Palestinians roll down our cheeks, even as we bury our own victims
of police murder.

A new day is coming in U.S. politics.  We will use the power of our vote
to change U.S. policy.  We will no longer check our values at the door and
support politicians and political parties that fail to deliver.

Not one more bomb to Israel.

In defense of humanity, we will not give up and we will win.

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • Black Agenda Radio
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist , Austin Cole
    The Black Alliance for Peace Calls for a Boycott of the World Cup
    17 Jun 2026
    The Black Alliance for Peace and other organizations have called for a boycott of the 2026 World Cup being held in the United States. Before any matches were played, the U.S. banned players, fans,…
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    The Knicks and New York's Disappearing Black Communities
    17 Jun 2026
    It is true that the New York Knicks' journey to a championship brought disparate communities together, but gentrification remains the norm in the city that is the capital of capital. Black people are…
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: Reconstruction, Seventy-Five Years After, W. E. B. Du Bois, 1943
    17 Jun 2026
    “Without the help of the American Negro, the abolition movement would have been impossible.”
  • ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    “Don’t Worry Be Happy”: The World Cup as an International Psy-Op
    17 Jun 2026
    FIFA uses the World Cup to present the United States as a legitimate nation, but the U.S. is a rogue state committing crimes against humanity. The call for a boycott is a call to decolonize football…
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    When the Revolution Comes
    17 Jun 2026
    Chris Smalls and his best friend, Derrick Palmer, led the first successful drive to unionize an Amazon warehouse. He believes that labor must decouple from the Democratic Party, as he explains in his…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us