The Right to Peacefully Worship at Al Aqsa Mosque
A Statement in Solidarity with Palestinian Liberation
A Call for Peace, Justice and Reparations
Community Renewal Society
Rev. Dr. Waltrina Middleton
18 April 2022
We have a moral duty and responsibility to use every fiber of our being to be vessels of love, peace, justice and hope. I speak today as your sister with a personal and clear understanding that my liberation is your liberation and your liberation is my own.
In the summer of 2015, my first cousin, DePayne Middleton, along with other worshippers at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC, were brutally murdered after being racially profiled and targeted at their house of worship. During the most vulnerable moment of prayer and turning inward to God – their vulnerability was exploited and their lives stolen. The sacredness of those church walls was violated because of xenophobia, self-perceived white superiority and a normalized culture of violence that is too often perpetuated by the state and imitated by self-proclaimed vigilantes. What occurred at Emanuel AME Church nearly seven years ago is not an isolated event. All across the United States we are witnessing a breach in sacred spaces when violence steps over thresholds into mosques, temples, churches and the like with an intent to target minoritized communities with fatal use of force.
For my family, symbols of a failed confederacy, an infatuation with guns, deep- seated racism and nationalist views sought to disrupt our culture, faith, and lives. We even had to endure the moral injury of police officers buying a meal for the murderer who just shot our loved ones to death as we mourned unfathomable losses. Regrettably, we are cognizant what we suffered is not confined to the south or even the United States. We know these patterns of state sanctioned violence across the Diaspora is systemic and systematic.
With this in mind, alongside my own personal pain and awareness of such spiritual, cultural and moral harm – I must condemn the violent and fatal use of force upon worshippers at Al-Aqsa mosque during Jumu’ah (Friday) prayers.
The inequitable use of force against unarmed worshippers and Palestinians at-large are crimes against humanity and there must be outrage and denouncement by global leaders, faith communities, and all who believe in justice and peace for all.
How many more lives must be stolen? How many more sacred places of worship must be violated with bloodshed before we denounce these acts of violence through deed or silence? State sanctioned and or domestic acts of terror?
Imagine being criminalized for allegedly throwing rocks and using this allegation to justify storming into a mosque using gun fire – live ammunition and rubber bullets. Imagine the alleged throwing of rocks justifying raids to desecrate and demolish private homes, detain persons without due process, and to kill. Imagine if this occurred in a church, synagogue or temple on Saturday or Sunday at the height of worship.
The inhumane and illegal occupation of Palestine and all acts of oppression to further marginalize and minoritize its people from its native land must cease along with all acts of racist, nationalist, patriarchal imperialism that threatens to eliminate Palestinians.
If we are able to immediately recognize and denounce violence and war crimes in European nations – we must denounce these acts in Palestine.
If we are able to immediately recognize apartheid and genocide in European nations – we must denounce these acts in Palestine.
If we are able to recognize a citizen’s right to have access to their native land and the right to freedom without threat of war and oppression in European nations – we must recognize these rights for Palestinians!
The 1948 war uprooted at least 700,000 Palestinians from their homes, creating a refugee crisis that is still not resolved. Today, there are more than 7-million Palestinian refugees seeking to touch the soil of the land denied by walls tainted with blood, poverty, and immeasurable human suffering. This is unacceptable and I remain in solidarity with Palestinian struggle in pursuit of true liberation from racist oppression and illegal occupation by Israel.
The common threads of our beautiful humanity connects us and so does the interconnectedness of our shared struggles. The images we see vividly today in Ukraine are the same narratives of Afghanistan, Libya, Sudan, and Palestine, which do not have the same privilege and benefits of being headline and mainstream news. They do not have the spirited backing of NATO and world leaders and US Congressional funds. They do not have their flags flown on the I-90. They are not called heroes and heroines. Too often Palestinians are called terrorists and criminalized because of their religion, race, and geography. It is less likely to hear a sitting U.S. President reference the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) as a messenger of peace in the ways the wisdom of Vatican Popes are noted poignantly in a presidential address as President Joe Biden did in Poland.
It is appropriate for us to share in the global lament in response to the tragedies our siblings in Ukraine are facing. And, we must also hold this lament for the tragedies and crimes against humanity that are comparably occurring in non-European nations. If we decry the annexation of land in European countries, we must also bear witness to the injustice in the annexation of Palestinian land and exploitation of its resources.
Palestine remains illegally occupied by Israel without equitable outcry as their homes are demolished and natives are criminalized and killed for daring to fight for their freedom and homeland. Media images of Palestinians throwing rocks are condemned while profiles on Ukrainians making thousands of Molotov cocktails to throw at Russian troops is celebrated as courageous and heroic. Both nations seek freedom and are waiting on their liberation to come.
How do we as a nation freeze financial assets to stop Russia from illegally imposing war on Ukraine, but underwrite billions in aid to support Israel’s illegal occupation and imposition of war on Palestine?
How do we as a nation join global alliances in walking out in protest on a Russian diplomat during their speech in the United Nations (UN), but refuse to cast a vote at the UN to recognize Palestine as a nation state?
How do we as a nation impose blockades and freeze assets in Russia, while US Senators (including Ben Cardin of Maryland and Sherrod Brown of Ohio) rally in support of criminalizing and penalizing anyone who supports BDS (Boycotting, Divesting and Sanctions) against Israeli’s illegal occupation of Palestine?
In Palestine, families are denied access to their olive fields—a valuable source of income for some. Children are forced to go through multiple check points at gun point in order to reach school and then home every day. How do we honor the lives, humanity and freedoms of Palestinian children, too?
Activist, author and humanitarian, Dr. Angela Davis says, “Our histories never unfold in isolation. We cannot truly tell what we consider to be our own histories without knowing the other stories. And often we discover that those other stories are actually our own stories... There is no pathway to freedom as long as even one remains oppressed.”
This is why Palestinian liberation is inextricably my liberation. This is why we who believe in freedom cannot rest until freedom prevails for us all. This is why the bloodshed in a house of worship, albeit Jerusalem, Palestine or Charleston, SC or Minneapolis, MN, must be an urgent call to action for us all.
As your sister in this struggle, I am with you with hope and faith that freedom will come! Liberation will come. Reparations will come. Justice will come. Peace will come for us all.
Take Action:
Write letters to your senators and representatives demanding equitable relief and advocacy on behalf of Palestinians
A Luta Continua,
Rev. Dr. Waltrina Middleton, Executive Director Community Renewal Society