May 21
GUEST: Cody O'Rourke, human rights activist in the West Bank and coordinator of communications for the Good Shepherd Collective, talks about his organizations commitment to exposing apartheid and ending the occupation of Palestine.Good Shepherd Collective
Cody and the Good Shepherd Collective are trying to get Americans to understand what it is like living in a racist police state. That work should be getting easier now that the vail of police good intentions towards Black people has been ripped off. We all see how African Americans are subjected to violence and discrimination during every day of their lives. Black communities have been under served and over policed for more than a century, condemning their children and grandchildren to grow up as second class citizens.
This caste system is what lies ahead for Palestinians, once the State of Israel has claimed all of the Holy Land for its own. Palestinians will get substandard schools, underfunded medical facilities and job discrimination. Moreover, they will continually be targeted by the police for extrajudicial killings in the streets and in their homes. They will live the life of perpetual bondage to fear and depravation.
Their children will be arrested, beaten, tortured and made to confess to crimes that they didn't commit. That is if their children survive the arrest. Each time a Black child leaves the house, there is distinct possibility that he or she won't be coming back.
Black Americans and Palestinians have so much in common. They have both suffered from the same state racism and hatred. They have both watched as corrupt and despicable national leaders have targeted them for political advantage. They both have at times rebelled, demanding equal rights and equality in a repressive society that offers little of either.
One day perhaps we will all rise up and overthrow these corrupt and racist leaders in Israel and the United States. Someday we will march in the street, as brothers and sisters, to reclaim our democracy for we the people. Until that time we salute the resistance, and organize.
