OPINION | FREE SPEECH | USA
Palestinian Voices Must Be Heard, Pt. 2
The op-ed that the Baltimore Sun failed to print. “It is a historic time for American society to openly recognize that Palestinian lives matter!”
2023–11–07 (Letter dated 10/28)
As the parent of a Howard County middle-schooler, I am alarmed by a letter dated 10–26–2023 from county’s school superintendent, concerning “the recent terrorist attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza.” (Thankfully, in a subsequent letter, the superintendent added “islamophobia” alongside “antisemitism” among the examples of speech the schools will not tolerate, partially correcting the blatant one-sidedness.) My main cause of alarm, nevertheless, remains in the tone of both letters, which functions to stifle free debate by focusing on consequences for “improper” speech, even brandishing a paragraph-full of statutes. Even if that’s not the intent, students reading the letter will be hence mortified into silence.
Free expression is empowering for our children and crucial for their mental health and well-being. At times like this, they should be encouraged to speak. I was visiting my brother in Palestine when the war started. For over a week, my daughter was worried for my safe return.
During that week in Ramallah, I could not sleep from the buzz of Israeli airplanes on their way to bomb Gaza. A formation of Israeli airplanes flew overhead every 10 minutes, for the first 72 hours straight, before they changed the flight path. Five minutes after my hearing each airplane, the lives of several more Gazan families would be forever annulled. At peak times of night, they stepped it up to a sortie every five minutes. That’s how frequently buildings were collapsing in Gaza, each tumbling on the lives and families inside.
My daughter has every right to openly share her experiences, and in her school. In fact, she should be invited to do so. Free and open debate is crucial to a functioning democracy. Our discomfort should never be a reason to silence our children. Rather, encouraging them to voice their thoughts and express their feelings is precisely what we can do as a society to help them heal and grow. Instead of issuing threats against the exercise of free speech, I urge the school board and the Howard County public school system to organize town halls, where children and their parents come to exchange their viewpoints and learn from each other.
This is an agonizing moment for my family and others in America of Palestinian descent. We are in constant mourning for the loss of life and the mounting toll — both Palestinian and Israeli.
One million children live in Gaza. According to medical sources in Gaza, children make up 40% of the casualties. That’s at least 3,500 children killed in three weeks, and counting. Those who survive will be traumatized for life. Coming back to America, I was shocked at the societal silence against such atrocities. This is no natural disaster. The people in Gaza are being killed by American-made bombs, at our expense as taxpayers. We all have a stake and bear responsibility, so we must discuss this openly.
Criticism of the policies and actions of an Israeli government should not be conflated with anti-Semitism, which is a scourge that should have no place in society. Yet, since the start of the war, social media platforms have pulled down or shadow banned countless reasonable voices advocating for Palestinian rights. In both France and Germany, they banned protests in support of Palestinian lives. In the UK, they forbade raising the Palestinian flag. Thankfully, that’s not the American way.
It is a historic time for American society to openly recognize that Palestinian lives matter; that Palestinian lives matter for their own sake; and that they matter no less than Israeli lives. It is time to recognize that my Palestinian American daughter has as much a right to free speech as anyone else. Furthermore, her right cannot be conditioned by whether her reality makes others uncomfortable, or whether she agrees with “pre-approved” (and false) narratives that vilify people of her ethnicity.
Especially at this time, when all evidence points to an ongoing genocide in Gaza, it is imperative that Palestinian voices be heard!
Ramsey Hanhan,
Author
