Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) called on the Democratic National Convention (DNC) to stop the “dehumanization of Palestinians” by refusing to let them speak on stage.
The congresswoman from New York shared her message on X during night three of the Chicago convention in response to a recent Vanity Fair op-ed from Ta-Nehisi Coates.
“Just as we must honor the humanity of hostages, so too must we center the humanity of the 40,000 Palestinians killed under Israeli bombardment. To deny that story is to participate in the dehumanization of Palestinians. The [DNC] must change course and affirm our shared humanity,” the congresswoman wrote on X.
In his lengthy piece in Vanity Fair, Coates compared Israel to Jim Crow America, referred to the country as an “ethnocracy,” and said claims of genocide against the Palestinians are valid.
He also criticized the DNC for not featuring Palestinian speakers despite Chicago being home to “more Palestinian Americans than anywhere else in the country.”
Despite the appeals of Palestinian American delegates and activists, no Palestinian American is scheduled to address the convention from the main stage. I suspect this is because of what such a speaker might feel compelled to say. In response to the massacre perpetrated by Hamas last October, the state of Israel has killed some 40,000 Palestinian people. The intention behind this carnage has been declared openly. “We are fighting human animals,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has said. “And we are acting accordingly.” Acting accordingly has meant the erasing of roughly two percent of the entire population of the Gaza Strip, a fact not to be mourned since, according to Israeli President Isaac Herzog, “There are no innocent civilians in Gaza.”
The most destructive bombs that have actualized this rhetoric of extermination are being furnished by America, and more specifically, by the head of the Democratic party. In February, as President Joe Biden sought to seal the nomination from that party, activists in Michigan rallied registering voters in the state to check “uncommitted” as a protest against the Biden administration’s backing of the war. The campaign garnered 13 percent of the vote and quickly spread to other states. By Democratic party rules, this entitled the Uncommitted movement to 29 delegates, who are here in Chicago to press their case against what has been labeled, convincingly I might add, a genocide.
As the DNC goes into Day 4 before Kamala Harris formally accepts the party’s nomination, the Uncommitted delegates told Coates they remain hopeful they will get a place on stage.
Paul Roland Bois directed the award-winning Christian tech thriller, EXEMPLUM, which has a 100% Rotten Tomatoes critic rating and can be viewed for FREE on YouTube or Tubi. “Better than Killers of the Flower Moon,” wrote Mark Judge. “You haven’t seen a story like this before,” wrote Christian Toto. A high-quality, ad-free rental can also be streamed on Google Play, Vimeo on Demand, or YouTube Movies. Follow him on X @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.
