From Nashville to Palestine, power enables violence

April 11, 2023

by Kathryn Shihadah

The maintenance of the status quo is a full-time job for the powerful. Hanging onto power requires shaming and silencing dissident voices – especially those who call out the misuse of power.

When Tennessee state representatives Justin Pearson and Justin Jones (both men of color) responded to the recent school massacre in Nashville by speaking out in favor of stricter gun control last week, they were shut down and expelled.

Why? When it comes to gun violence in schools, the power is in the hands of white men (white men carried out most of the deadliest shootings, and mostly run the NRA), and the victims are disproportionately children of color – but change is also in the hands of white men (the predominant gender and ethnicity of the Tennessee House members), while those silenced last week were people of color.

Another matter before the American people bears resemblance to the gun control issue: one that is perhaps less understood because the rhetoric surrounding it has been nearly uncontested for years.

The issue is Palestinians’ rights to justice, equality, and self-determination. Much has been written about this topic; the purpose here is to summarize, not go into detail (follow the embedded links to learn more).

While this issue is not an exact parallel to that of Tennessee gun control, the similarities are striking and instructional.

2022 was a record year for gun violence in American schools, and 2023 is poised to be even more deadly. The same is true for Palestinian deaths, at the hands primarily of the Israeli military.

Why do these issues exist to begin with?

Gun violence is a serious issue because, in short, Americans with the most power (lawmakers) have allowed a good thing (the Second Amendment) to expand unchecked. The gun lobby has made it worth legislators' while to maintain the status quo: money staves off policy reform. Money keeps children and adults dying of gun violence, while politicians line their coffers.

On the issue of Israel, Americans with the most power (lawmakers) are similarly beholden to a lobby with deep pockets. The Israel lobby secures the votes in Congress to keep massive amounts of military aid flowing to Israel – to date, $260 billion (inflation-adjusted) – and a foreign policy that favors Israel at every turn. This unregulated aid and unquestioning support of a settler-colonial state has ravaged the rights of the indigenous Palestinians since Israel was founded in 1948.

It may have been a worthy idea to create a safe haven for Jewish people in the midst of persecution (although the powers at the time did so as part of a racist agenda), but, like the Second Amendment, that “safe haven” has gotten so far out of hand that another people group is unsafe – and dying at a startling rate.

The gun lobby and the Israel lobby are arguably the most influential in Congress and our state legislatures – and they push their agendas without conscience. Lawmakers who enjoy the perks are willing to vote as they are told.

The voices that need to be heard are silenced

Gun violence disproportionately affects communities of color. When white lawmakers expelled Reps. Pearson and Jones (and by extension, their constituents) from the Tennessee legislature, they essentially shut down the conversation that those two gentlemen were most qualified to lead.

Their ally, Rep. Gloria Johnson, a white woman, also faced retribution in the state house. While the vote to expel her came up short, the lesson is clear: associate with rabble-rousers at your own peril – even if you are white.

And so it goes with those who call for Palestinian rights.

Palestinians who advocate for their own people, out of their own lived experience, are as a matter of course expelled from the mainstream and summarily silenced.

Their allies do not fare much better. Allies of color – who perhaps relate most strongly to the Palestinian plight – often can not get a hearing. White allies are shut down as antisemites. Even Jewish allies are routinely chastised as “self-hating Jews.”

What is at stake?

In Tennessee, democracy itself hangs in the balance. The Tennessee Democratic Party declared, in response to the expulsion of Reps. Pearson and Jones,

The day that a majority can simply expel a member of the opposing party without legitimate cause threatens the fabric of democracy in our state and creates a reckless roadmap…

The threat of expulsion for political disagreement can have a chilling effect on the democratic process – to the detriment of America’s most vulnerable. The dismissal of Pearson and Jones enabled gun violence to continue unchecked – at a time when American disapproval of gun regulations is greater than ever. Legislators’ failure to act on behalf of the people’s will undermines democracy.

American support for the Palestinian cause is also at an all-time high, especially among Democrats – but this is not evident in Congress, where both sides of the aisle (with a few exceptions) continue to be unwavering in their loyalty to Israel.

And the United States’ failure to address well-documented accusations of apartheid in Israel – as our leaders continue to label that country a “democracy” – diminishes the spirit of the word.

Israel and its acolytes have their own forms of expulsion for those who dare to defy the pro-Israel status quo.

When Palestinians recommend that Israeli goods be boycotted – a strategy that helped topple apartheid in South Africa – they are accused of “economic terrorism.” Their peaceful protests are violently suppressed.

When Rep. Betty McCullom (D-MN-4) called for minor reforms in the processing of military aid to Israel (no funding for the incarceration of Palestinian children), she was immediately branded an antisemite. When Congress members sympathize with the Palestinian quest for justice, they are called antisemitic.

And when allies of Palestinians speak or write about the issue, they are often demonized. Advocates for Palestinian rights have at times lost their jobs or income, and kept out of positions of influence.

As smear campaigns suck the air out of legislative chambers, the issue of Palestinian rights is lost in the scuffle.

Politicians suddenly don’t want to be “political”

In the aftermath of mass shootings, standard operating procedure for those beholden to the gun lobby is to offer “thoughts and prayers,” but to rebuke anyone who uses the incident as a springboard for reform.

Days after the Nashville shooting that prompted the ill-fated gun debate, reporters in Washington asked Congress members to comment on the issue. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) responded, “If we’re going to talk solutions, let’s talk solutions. Let’s not get into politics…If you’re going to talk about the AR-15, you’re talking politics.” Words of a politician, dodging the issue.

The United States’ years-long, bipartisan “ironclad relationship” with Israel, especially since it is (allegedly) “the only democracy in the Middle East” keeps legislators from taking any stand for Palestinian rights.

But as some progressives have realized that Israel is usurping Palestinian human rights, they’ve begun pulling away. Israel pundits dubbed this “politicization” of the issue, as if it is a party-line change, and not a moral imperative.

Many politicians who identify as Christian have a notion that only “revival” will save us from gun violence. Many of the same folks also have a notion that the return of Christ will take place in Israel – possibly soon – and American support is a concrete way of supporting that spiritual belief.

These ideologies serve to excuse violations of human rights – and do not belong in a democracy that separates Church from State. Seeking justice and protecting children are things that both sides of the political aisle should strive for.

Prioritizing “peace” without justice

Republican legislators claimed that Reps. Pearson and Jones brought “disorder” to the chamber and had a “history” of disrupting floor proceedings. "It's not possible for us to move forward with the way they were behaving," one legislator declared. "There's got to be some peace."

These folks are not interested in real peace – the kind that comes with equality and justice. They want only the restraint of their critics. Protest is loud and messy, and requires genuine debate, soul-searching, and compromise. Keepers of the status quo have nothing but disdain for all of these.

But disruptors don’t quit.

Such is the case in the Palestine issue. Israel and its supporters claim they have “no partner for peace” – but the “peace” they want is domination. Palestinians will not stop resisting their Israeli oppressors, and their allies will not stop protesting, until the work of bringing justice is finished.