Poem by Remi Kanazi
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Video by Suhel Nafar
Audio by Andrew Felluss
This Divestment Bill Hurts My Feelings
this divestment bill
hurts my feelings
that Caterpillar bulldozer
ended life in the body of
an American citizen. drove
her bones into the ground while
a company cashed in on the sale
the claws of D-9 bulldozers unearth
the livelihood of occupied Palestinians
uprooting their crops and cemeteries
to make way for illegal settlements
but we need a positive
campus climate
while HP’s stock rises on division
producing technology to segregate
Palestinians. Biometric ids at checkpoints
equipment. enhancing the naval blockade
of an open air prison
Palestinians on campus listen to words
like climate, positive, hurt feelings
knowing their tuition invests in companies
reigning terror on loved ones
that suffering, like their voices
is non-existent to student board members
looking for cushy jobs at top 5 law firms
but this divestment bill
is divisive
the Montgomery bus boycott, divisive
the grape boycott, one sided
abolishing slavery, radical
Nelson Mandela, a terrorist
indigenous, savages
women’s suffrage, complicated
desegregation, provocative
Hiroshima, security
internment camps, a necessity
bantustans, autonomy
Iraq, liberation
Palestine, barren
there is always an excuse
catch phrases, talking points
strip away names and faces
we are being militant, unreasonable
there is context to this oppression
the word apartheid, it makes
you feel uncomfortable?
it is apartheid by definition
fits the ’73 convention
by law, it is a crime
against humanity
two sets of laws
for two people
labor, land ownership
access to education
50 laws of discrimination
46 years of occupation
27,000 homes demolished
nearly a million arrested
since ’67
whoa! whoa! whoa!
every nation has problems
but why the singling out on campuses?
you mean like…
Darfur, Tibet, South Africa
sweatshops, Coca Cola
animal testing, the Keystone Pipeline
undocumented rights
the prison industrial complex
fossil fuels, teacher’s unions
university cuts and bottled water?
the real question
why are you singling out
any injustice for protection?
let me get the next one for you
Israel is democratic
democratic
like coal is clean
Miller Lite is the same great taste, less filling
and McDonald’s salads are healthy
these are not imagined scenarios
our tuition dollars are profiting off of death
divestment is the next step
this is not about a nation or a people
but what is being done to people
in our names, with our currency
this university will not liberate anyone
but it can choose to cease
making a buck off of misery
vote Yes for divestment
No to appeasement
affirming injustice
isn’t positive
for any climate