Dear Jana..
I wrote this letter to a friend determined to ignore Gaza.. I changed the name because 'Jana' is an idea, not a person.
This is a version of the letter read and edited down by @leilaboukarim.
It is a message to the many Janas out there who we've met along the way but didn't have the energy to send personalized messages to. Those looking at a genocide but don't want us to dismiss their progressiveness or their goodness.
You can find the full letter in English and in German can be found on my substack.
"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Text:
Dear Jana, I know that you wish Gaza out of your life so that you can enjoy yourself, and that is the perfect example of colonialism. The price of your comfort is the colonization of other nations, the murder of people somewhere else. That wish is what the government is trying to grant you. You're shielded from the crimes Israel commits, sanctioned and supported by German politicians. You're shielded from the fact that your tax money helps beat up people who look like me. You're shielded because of your wish to spend your days and nights without having to think about Gaza. The only inconvenience to that, I suppose, is the existence of people like me in your vicinity. I'm sure you have nothing against me—if only you weren't reminded that your silence is complicity, that your professed ideals fail the real tests.
My presence is a reminder of German complicity, mass murder, environmental damage, and the utter absence of remorse over Germany's past crimes in today's society. You asked me what I would do if I were you with white privilege. Don't ask me. There are many Germans who can answer you. They show up every week, challenge themselves, teach themselves, learn and unlearn, sit with the truth, confront racist police, and put their bodies on the line. Ask them.
The main problem with mainstream Germans who have not broken free from their indoctrination is that they haven't worked for their redemption, but rather have inherited it. I wonder what differentiates a German who wants to escape the reality of their country partaking in genocide today from a German of the 1930s who also looked the other way. I've come to realize the great lengths Germans go to in order to avoid Gaza. They're hoping it's over so that they can go on with their lives. These aren't the brainwashed Germans who have no idea what's going on and think all Palestinians are terrorists. I'm talking about Germans who know a genocide is happening, but they might lose some small privilege if they speak up.
Maybe you expected you'd feel better if a non-white, non-German person told you that it's okay to ignore Gaza because you don't know enough about it, that I would tell you it's an issue I care deeply about, but that you didn't have to. The truth of the matter is you can't be a good or progressive person if you do everything in your power to ignore Palestine, if you ignore German complicity in genocide, and repression against anyone who objects to genocide. Your white fragility does not accept that conclusion, but I'm not sure it's possible to draw another one.
This message may hurt or anger you now, but I hope that one day you'll appreciate how honest I have tried to be, particularly if you experience some awakening. But then again... you may leave that awakening to future generations to deal with, much like past generations have left you with that inheritance.
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