True. We Blind Folk aren't shoved out of the way by angry White Folk,
or hunted down and burned out of our homes, or awakened in the
Midnight Hour by a bomb hurtling into our home. We don't have our
farms seized, or made so unsafe that we dare not tend our crops. We
don't have to travel out of our way in order to wait in long lines at
check points, where we are examined like vermin, by coldly indifferent
armed soldiers. Still, exclusion is exclusion. Being cast into the
Outer World, whether violently or indifferently still has the same
dehumanizing effect.
No, I have no real sense of what walking out my door wearing a Black
Skin every day, and seeing the faces of the mostly White folk as I go
about my daily activities...if I have any daily activities to go
about.
And especially, I have no way of relating to an elderly grandmother
tending her garden and seeing, as the last sight she will ever see, an
object hurtling toward her.
Still, many of my friends in the Washington Council of the Blind(WCB)
have learned to compartmentalize the discrimination they feel as a
blind person, and their view of the discrimination and oppression
being experienced by other minorities.
I used to consider these people as being self serving or self
centered. But at this moment I see them as victims, no different than
those people around them whom they curse and condemn.
Years back, when I worked on Seattle's waterfront in the Sweat Shop
named Bartmann and Bixer of the Northwest, Incorporated, I would
wander the streets of that area known as Skidrow, or Skid Road. The
bars along First Avenue were segregated to some degree or other. The
Indians had several bars they hung out in, often making a circuit
walking from one bar to another during a Friday or Saturday night.
The Negroes hung out in a couple of bars further down at the South end
of First Avenue, and no Indian had better put his/her head in the
door. The two groups hated one another. Both Blacks and Indians
believed that they were better than the other. "But," I would say to
any who would listen to me, "can't you see that you are both being
treated the same?" But it was as if each minority did all it could to
not be the one at the bottom of the pile. Blacks, by being "better"
than Indians felt they had a measure of dignity. And Indians felt
that by being "better" than Blacks gave them more stature in the eyes
of the White Masters.
This need to feel superior is turned against us by the Ruling Class.
And so it is around the Globe. One People create a superior image of
themselves, and create an inferior stereotype of those they oppose.
Perhaps it is so much a part of our Nature that we'll continue until
the last two humans die in a life and death struggle. I watched a
program the other night about the Silver back Gorillas. As the 35
year old dominate male was finally bested by the younger, stronger
male, I could see how these animals had survived because of their
"survival of the fittest" that kept them a strong species. And yet,
this strong instinct forced the old leader into fighting to the death,
even though he might have fled into the forest and lived out his life
in peace.
Humans are no different, except in one important way. Driven by our
"survival of the fittest" instinct, we have set in place an artificial
standard of what we consider to be the Standard for a Strong Species.
Possession is put in place of Strength. I could wax long and loud
about this wrong turn in the Survival Road, but suffice it to say that
we now see at the top of our People, a weak blubbery, self focused
creature. Or maybe we see something even worse. Donald Trump.
Carl Jarvis
On 6/19/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I used to think that being blind was what allowed me to identify with
members of other minority groups. Perhaps it did. But the differences
between being blind and being a Palestinian in Israel/Palestine or being
Black in America, are just too great. We, the blind, aren't hated and
reviled. Cops don't feel endangered by blind men and shoot them. We're not
incarcerated. I am, here in my apartment building, socially isolated. But
if anyone chooses to relate to me when they see me in the lobby or the
elevator, it is to offer help. It's a very different dynamic.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Monday, June 19, 2017 11:42 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Palestinian Center for Human Rights: Gaza
There are no words for such heartless, cruel, cold behavior.
It's hard to wrap my head around what life is...or in the case of the
mother, was, like under this constant surveillance.
To a greater or lesser degree I can "feel" what it must be like to be a
racial or religious minority in America. Despite the "Free Pass" of
Whiteness, I am still a member of a small, ignored minority. While being
blind has some distinct advantages over being Black, Brown or a Muslim, we
blind people are faced with misunderstanding and ignorance, and often mean
spiritness. At least enough for us to "understand"
some of what other minorities face. But to live under constant threat of
death from a distance? To go about doing what must be done to survive? To
never know, when going to bed at night, if morning will find your house and
family still "safe"? To be bullied with no one to turn to? And worst of
all, to have no way out! Even this old blind man can dream of better days.
But to have absolutely no Light at the End of the Tunnel? To not even have
a Tunnel.
We Humans are such a contradiction. We can sore, like angels, to the
heights of compassion, and turn right around and become more cruel than all
of the Demons waiting to embrace us in Hell.
Carl Jarvis
On 6/19/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Life under Siege: Indiscriminate killing of farmers
Date: 18/06/2017
"Our life has turned upside down since my mother's death. With her
passing, we lost the backbone of the house." Hani Salem Elomor is a
married father of
3 children and resident of El Elfokhari neighborhood, Khan Younis,
whose mother Zeina was killed by the Israeli occupation forces in 2016
when she was working on the family's farmland.
The tree was planted by Zeina's family where she was killed by the
Israeli occupation forces Zeina was solely responsible for Hani and
his six siblings and the family's income is based on the 2 dunums of
land they own and where they plant wheat, which is located in
Elfokhari neighborhood, about 350 meters from the borderline line with
Israel. Supposedly, the farmland is outside of the buffer zone
implemented by the Israeli occupation forces, stretching from the
Israeli border 300 meters into the Gaza Strip. The buffer zone is an
area prohibited to Palestinians, which is illegal under both Israeli
and international law. According to the United Nations Office for the
Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA), the buffer zone takes up 17
percent of Gaza's total land, making up to 35 percent of available
farmland unsafe for Palestinians to use, with the areas nearest the
border fence being the most restricted. It is harshly affecting the
livelihood of tens of thousands of Gaza farmers, who rely heavily on
agriculture to provide for their families.
In addition, the Israeli occupation forces regularly enforce the
buffer zone and nearby areas with live fire, which is what Zeina
became a victim of.
In the evening of 05 May 2016, Hani received a phone call from his
brother Monzer, who informed him that their mother got wounded from a
shell by the occupation forces and that she was on her way to the Gaza
European hospital.
"I immediately rushed to the hospital and when I arrived there, I
could see my family members getting into the emergency room. I
followed them and saw my mother's dead body lying on one of the beds with
her face covered.
Unconsciously, I uncovered her face and saw the blood covering her
neck, shoulder, and right hand. The doctors informed me that she was
killed on the spot by the Israelis", Hani tells in vain.
Zeina was collecting hay on her farmland and filling it into bags to
move it to the house, when the occupation forces fired a rocket at
her, as her relatives that accompanied her tell. In the place of the
incident there were a number of other farmers working on their
farmlands. The area is very flat, the sight is obvious, and the attack
happened during day time, which is a clear evidence for the
arbitrariness of the killing. "There is an Israeli military tower east
of the land, about 350 meters away, so the occupation forces could see
with their bare eyes that my mother was a civilian, working on her
land to provide her family with an income. They shot her for no
reason", Hani emphasizes. "Ever since the end of the latest war on
Gaza, Israel allowed farmers to cultivate this zone using short crops
that do not grow higher than 80 centimeters, such as wheat and barley,
as it forbids them from establishing greenhouses or buildings there", Hani
highlights.
Enforcing the buffer zone by means of live fire constitutes a war
crime, as codified in the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome
Statute, prohibiting the targeting and severe injuring or killing of a
civilian or protected person. However, Israeli troops typically
enforce the buffer zone with live fire which often results in, inter
alia, the direct targeting of civilians and/or indiscriminate attacks.
Furthermore, preventing Palestinians from access to their land is a
violation of numerous provisions of international human rights law,
including the right to work, the right to the highest attainable
standard of living, and the right to the highest attainable standard
of health. Accordingly, the PCHR has filed a letter requesting the
military advocate general to open an investigation into the incident
on 30 May, 2016. A reminder was sent on 26 April, 2017 regarding the
complaint and PCHR received a response that the incident is under
treatment by the Israeli military prosecution for operational affairs.
"A year later, day by day we still go to our land and work the same
way as if our mother was still among us. The occupation forces tried
to frighten us several times, but they will not succeed and we will
never give up our land.
It belongs to us and we will not lose our sole source of income", Hani
emphasizes. "Until today, we don't know the reason why she was
killed; my mother was killed for nothing. We hope for accountability,
even though it has been a year since the incident happened and no
progress has been made in the case."
Public Document
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