Just say no to all erasures

Palestinian-American writer, poet, and clinical psychologist Hala Alyan, who specializes in trauma, addiction, and cross-cultural behavior, asks “Why Must Palestinians Audition for Your Empathy?”

Have you ever felt like you had to audition for empathy? Like you had to prove that you or your community deserve compassion? 

In the last few weeks, I’ve watched Palestinians from all walks of life try to prove they deserve humanity. I’ve watched them beg for fair news coverage, get interrupted or silenced on air. I’ve watched them create infographics, summarize history, organize teach-ins to try to earn solidarity for thousands and thousands of dead, innocent civilians... 

... I don’t hesitate for a second to condemn the killing of any innocent life, any civilian. 

This, of course, includes Jewish life. This, of course, includes October 7. It includes every day before that, it includes every day since. Condemning innocent killings is the easiest ask in the world. 

And that’s exactly why I say: condemn brutal acts, condemn murder, condemn oppression, condemn violence, condemn war crimes, condemn human rights violations, and notice if it feels harder to condemn these things when they happen to certain people, certain lives, certain communities....

Any queer, any LGBTQ+ individual over the age of 45, should recognize Aylan's question. Queers auditioned for empathy from our fellow citizens for many years, particularly during the early years of the AIDS epidemic. The now-lionized President Reagan refused for many years to admit and respond to a plague killing masses of gay men. 

When the HIV/AIDS epidemic began in the 1980s, the Reagan administration's first reaction was chilling: It appeared to treat the epidemic as a joke.

It required years of aggressive activism to extort money and compassion from our straight, right-wing, Republican fellow citizens. 

No wonder many gay people feel instinctive empathy with Palestinians oppressed and murdered by Israel. This empathy persists despite the inconvenient fact that much (most?) of the organized force of Palestinian liberation is no friend to our being. Erasure is not good for living humans.