Today I will be re-reading Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s Letter From a Birmingham Jail and reflecting on this particularly timeless passage:

“First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”

I think about this passage every time someone admonishes protesters who resist ICE with confrontational direct action, every time a liberal politician says that the police or ICE need only to be reformed, not abolished. I think about it every time people imply that Palestinians should lie down quietly and accept slaughter, shouldn’t resist by any means, shouldn’t say, “From the river to the sea” or “Intifada,” shouldn’t occupy campuses or block bridges because “You’ll turn people off from your cause.” Every time someone acknowledges that the police are murdering and torturing Black people, but still tsk tsks protesters for breaking windows.

Direct Aid Opportunities

GoFundMe for the family of Keith Porter, murdered by an off-duty ICE agent on New Year’s Eve in Northridge, CA

Donate to the Minnesota Somali Community Center

Bridge of Solidarity, a mutual aid collective in Al Mawasi, Khan Yunis, Gaza, that focuses on supporting Afro-Palestinians.

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