By Tommy Airey

I am re-reading Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham jail.” MLK wrote the letter 60 years ago to white Christian and Jewish leaders. He lamented their lukewarm acceptance of the racist system. He lamented that they were more interested in order than justice – and that they were content with a kind of peace that forced the oppressed to accept their plight. MLK explained that the nonviolent actions that got him arrested were not creating tension, but simply bringing to the surface the tension that was already there for too long.

This letter is coming to life in those resisting the occupation of Palestinian land and the genocide of Palestinian people. MLK wrote that the movement for Black freedom was turning the monologue into a dialogue. The old Zionist monologue that mutes and cancels anyone with an opposing perspective is fading fast. People of faith and conscience are demanding a real dialogue about this situation. They are breaking the rules of what can be talked about in their families, faith communities, campuses, corporate media outlets and the Democratic Party.

Anti-Semitism is real. It must be condemned anywhere it comes up. I am committed to doing just that. But what I have seen on social media posts and in protests on the streets of Detroit is not anti-Semitism. It is a centering of the Palestinian perspective. Meanwhile, white Christians and liberals who are still committed to the Zionist monologue say that clear, uncompromising calls for a “Free Palestine” and a “Ceasefire Now” are too one-sided. Not fair and balanced.

But MLK was adamant that this unflinching focus on the “other” side is the only way forward. He compared it to the healing of a boil on the skin of our bodies. It cannot be cured if we keep it covered. Like a boil, “injustice must be exposed,” MLK wrote, “to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion.” When we expose seventy-five years of unjust Zionist policies, it looks very ugly. But real peace is not possible without it.

For Further Exposure:

-The Introduction and Gaza Chapter in Except for Palestine: The Limits of Progressive Politics by Marc Lamont Hill and Mitchell Plitnick are now available for free here.

–Overcoming Christian Zionism in the Quest for Justice by Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek (get the PDF for a dollar here)

-Read (or listen to) Chris Hedges’ article “Israel’s Culture of Deceit” here.

-Get involved on the ground with Jewish Voice for Peace.