Some excellent reflections on race in America from Barack Obama, spoken recently at the Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Personally, I think the speech is far too positive about America and Israel, in light of all the horrific abuses those two countries have committed against people within and outside of their borders (I'm not anti-American or anti-Israel, I'm just speaking the truth), but I know that you can't get elected President by talking about America in less than glorious terms. Anyway, other than that point, his speech is great and I'd strongly encourage taking a moment to read it.
or watch!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrp-v2tHaDo
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While I can't argue with a negative view of America's treatment of those around them, Israel is different. I've been learning a lot more about it lately, and I've found out all kinds of interesting things about the conflict around it. For instance, from the beginning Israel wanted to establish a state both for themselves and another for the Palestinians, rather than just kicking the Palestinians out. Right now they also have universal health care that they extend to anyone in the area, Arab, Jew, or anyone else; they have also spent decades providing power and other utilities to the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza because the countries around them that claim to support the Palestinians refuse to. They only bomb areas they know for sure have Hamas or other groups that are attacking them and they even take photographs of every bullet that is shot from an Israeli gun to make sure that they are not being used wrongly. It's amazing how many of the reports of children being killed by Israeli bullets or bombs are falsified; just as an example, the Palestinians claimed that a building they bombed collapsed killing 30 people and 1 baby, even though it was reported elsewhere that eyewitnesses said the building was empty.
Anyway, I just wanted to share since it's something I've been learning a lot about recently. I was really amazed at the length Israel goes to so that they treat people well, especially when there are hundreds of rockets that get fired at random targets in Israel every day by people like Hamas. Very ineffective rockets, but still. It's amazing to me the level of racism (speaking of!) that it takes for Israel to get picked on for killing people who were either terrorists or consorting with terrorists when there is genocide in other countries that is being ignored.
Well, I hope that things are going well for you, it sounds pretty interesting down there!
-Vanessa
Nessa! Good to hear from you. Thanks for your comments. I definitely want to keep learning about the Isreal/Palestine situation and all of the dynamics involved. What are your sources for the information you mentioned?
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