Yakima News is Silent Over a Local Pro-Palestine Rally
Sometimes, in good old Crackima, interesting events just come your way...like a pro-Palestine demonstration on the side of the road. This is our rundown of what we witnessed on Sunday, October 15th, and a little discussion about how we chose to handle bias without compromising our ethics.
Handling Bias in 3 Easy, Non-Woke Steps
Since about 9/11/2001, anti-Middle Eastern sentiments have been understandably hardwired into the American psyche. There are many scenarios in which bloggers, investigators, and journalists have to put aside bias in order to simply observe a situation.
A pro-Palestinian demonstration – anywhere in America – is going to be one of those situations.
However, biases, opinions, and judgements are part of human nature. We ALL observe situations through a framework of ethics that point towards our sovereignty in life, whether that's God, Allah, Bhuddha, the state, or even oneself.
There are tactics and procedures we try to use when it comes to witnessing and writing about controversial situations:
- Be humble and kind; you can always learn something from anyone at any time.
- Make your simple, factual observations first.
- Use your ethics to attach meaning to the facts afterwards.
Our Factual Observations of the Protest
The pro-Palestinian demonstration was located at Franklin Park (Tieton Drive and 20th Ave). Just driving by the protest, there were a few objective things we noticed:
- The group was about 30 people big – a little over half were children under 18.
- There were no men. Some younger boys were present, but the crowd was predominantly women of all ages.
- Head coverings were about 50-50 among the women present.
- Yakima's reception of the demonstration was mixed – some cars flew by angrily, others honked in support, some flipped off people, others waved, etc.
The protesters were chanting a few things on rote. The most frequent shoutouts were: "Free, free Palestine!" and "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!" (which was also on 5+ signs).
The majority of demonstrators also carried signs. We took pictures of as many as we could.
Collection of signs present at the pro-Palestinian demonstration in Yakima at Franklin Park.
Some notable signs said:
- "Land you have to kill for is not yours. Land you have to die for is."
- "To stand with Palestine is to stand with humanity."
- "2,215 Palestinians dead, 7% children."
- "Your 9/11 is our 24/7."
What the Pro-Palestinian Demonstrators Said
After driving by, we stopped in and spoke with some of the protesters. We met three women: one was elderly, one was a younger mother (maybe in her 30s), and one was high school or early college-age. We asked each of them a few questions.
1. What's going on? What is this demonstration about?
All three women spoke about a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The elderly woman seemed particularly disturbed by it, and some signs in the crowd echoed her sentiment:
"For two weeks, there has been no water, no food, no electricity, and no medicine in Gaza."
The elderly woman and the young mother were especially focused on the damage being done to children. When we asked whether it was just Palestinian children in danger, they agreed that children "from both sides" were being harmed.
"We just want peace for the children."
The young mother and high school/college-aged woman both expressed that they believed the public's perception was not as informed about the Palestinian side as the Israeli side. They thought this was largely due to inadequate media coverage.
2. Where are you from? How is your family?
Both the elderly woman and the young mother confirmed that they – like many of the demonstrators – lived in Yakima, but were originally from overseas. One had gone over to visit just a couple months before.
The high school/college-aged woman wasn't directly from overseas, but she said they had family and friends who were.
We asked each woman about how their family was doing. The results were mixed. Some had family right in the middle of the conflict, while others said their family was relatively safe.
3. Who coordinated the demonstration?
When we asked the various women this question, they replied that most everyone here was either related or just friends. A group chat had loosely coordinated this event with an online flyer.
We took a picture of the flyer from one of the demonstrator's phones.
4. Has any other news or media agency come by?
While we were at the demonstration, we asked the women whether any news or media agency had come by to ask observe or ask questions. They said no.
Attaching Meanings to Facts
We've stated what we objectively saw at the demonstration. For that reason, if you don't want our opinion, you can leave here.
First, we didn't even know there was a Middle Eastern community of that size in Yakima. It was surprising (and relieving) to see a group 30+ people lined up on the sidewalk peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights. And even better was that these were people with directly connected overseas to the issue; it wasn't just some unrelated activist group protesting for the sake of protest.
It was also surprising to see that the group consisted predominately of women and children, not men. However, this also brought up a concern for us.
Protesting in favor of Palestine in America is a very dangerous decision; 9/11 happened here. It was disconcerting to us that the parents of so many young children would have them attend such a potentially volatile protest.
Children are both deescalatory AND vulnerable.
This brings up something more controversial that we observed: the intentions of the women we spoke with didn't seem to match the demands of their signs and chants.
"From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!"
Basic map of Israel, the Jordan River, Mediterranean Sea, disputed lands, and surrounding countries. We borrowed the map, but the meme is ours.
What the demonstrators are referring to is the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. They're crying to expel all of Israel, while claiming that they just want peace for children of both sides. This is akin to asking people to stop a genocide by suggesting they commit one. It's deluded.
You can also assess where people stand not just by what they say or do, but by what they don't.
At the demonstration, there was no mention of the Israeli children facing genocide. It was vaguely alluded to with the phrase "children of both sides," but there were no Israeli flags on any sign asking for peace. There is no desire for coexistence in this protest, and no one spoke with us about the recent tragedy of Israeli children being beheaded.
...I’ve been doing this a long time. I never really thought that I would see and have confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading [Israeli] children.
-President Biden, October 11, 2023
And above all, what stood out to us the most, is that so few in Yakima will ever know about this demonstration. Unfortunately, you are left with just One Crackima's opinion.
