Terror Close to Home

So close to home.

A madman firebombed Pearl Street in Boulder with Molotov cocktails.

This block of a popular pedestrian mall is a block we’ve traversed scores of times. Our grandchildren have splashed in the fountains and climbed on play sculptures, worn to satin sheen by years of oil and ice cream from small fingers.

Nearby one might encounter Glass Box Guy, a spindly, seemingly ageless Black man who deforms his body and improbably enters a small, clear cube - repeatedly, day after day.

Or my favorite street performer, Sam Malcolm, whose bag of world-class stunts is accompanied by quick wit and keen social observation.

And here, in the midst of the simple pleasures of a Sunday afternoon, Mohamed Sabry Soliman acted out whatever grievances he found sufficient justification for searing the flesh of gentle protesters, mostly older women, who have walked weekly since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. As the New York Times reported, “The ritual is simple: walk, speak the names of those still held hostage, sometimes sing ‘Hatikvah,’ the Israel national anthem, and bear witness.”

Perhaps most horrifying was the site of one of the oldest walkers being stretchered into an ambulance. She is a Holocaust survivor, her life now bookended by flames of hatred.

I offer these details to humanize, not sensationalize. The site of every hate crime, every act of terrorism, has a past of peaceful, sunny afternoons and a future forever marred by screams, blood and seared flesh. Now it’s a street where we will never walk innocently again.

The transition will seem abrupt, but this tragedy brought to mind a performance I disallowed at a graduation when I was head of the Calhoun School. The student, a young man of color, auditioned with an original rap/hip-hop song that raged with anti-racist passion. He thought me an anti-racist ally, which I was - am. He was bitterly disappointed in the staff who had first denied him and in me, who he thought certain to overrule their prudence.

I explained, to little avail, that commencement was not the setting for his powerful expression. That the event belonged to all the graduates and their families - a day of celebration, not activism. He and his group settled for Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” a social anthem of the 70’s, which we older activists found pungent enough, but proud parents and grandparents could enjoy as a good Motown cover. It was a compromise, but I’m sure he’s still mad at and disappointed in me.

A few similar incidents have played out during this commencement season at colleges, where pro-Palestinian speeches were rejected or speakers violated “expectations” and were thereafter sanctioned.

I believe that protest, even tinged with violence if necessary, is both a right and an obligation. A great deal of social change, including the end of the Vietnam war, the gains of the civil rights era and the remarkable advances in gay rights, has been spurred by protests and daring activism.

The current genocide in Gaza, paired with the historic genocide and hatred directed at Jews, leaves a great deal to protest.

* The complicity of the United States in the ongoing genocide.

* The incomprehensible, unjustifiable actions of the Netanyahu government.

* The stench of antisemitism growing around the world.

* The ideologically-fueled viciousness of Hamas and other extremist groups.

* The historic marginalization of and brutality directed at Palestinians.

Every dimension of this intractable mess arouses justifiable passion. So where should it be directed?

Returning to my disappointed student: His passion was justified, but it was the wrong audience. Protests, even aggressively disruptive, should be aimed at either those responsible for the injustice, and/or those with power or influence to change it.

With the “right audience” principle in mind, some sorting of these complex variables may be possible.

Occupation of buildings on a campus of a university that refuses to divest in investments in Israel or supports military research: the right audience.

Boisterously disrupting Congress because of its supplication to a tyrant and its continued support for Israeli’s crushing of innocent children, women and men in Gaza: the right audience.

Boycotts and protests directed at corporations that discriminate against LGBTQ+ folks: the right audience.

An aggressive and confrontational song at a joyful commencement attended by people who can do little about systemic racism: the wrong audience.

And targeting older folks during a peaceful ritual walk down a pedestrian mall on a sunny Sunday afternoon: decidedly the wrong audience.

Here in the greater Boulder community, tempers are flaring as the immediate shock wanes.

Some voices maintain that the terrorist would not have acted if not for the genocide in Gaza. Others see and feel his attack as just one among a never-ending series of violent expressions of antisemitism.

In this tangled morass, it is both/and - not either/or.

Whatever this particular terrorist hoped to accomplish, he failed. Firebombing innocent Jews, including a Holocaust survivor, will not turn the world’s sympathy toward Gaza or Palestinians. It will harm his cause and exacerbate the tension.

Just as relentless bombing of Gaza will not turn the world’s sympathy toward Israel or Jews around the world.

It seems so simple. Peace will never be brought about through violence. Justice cannot be achieved through acts of injustice.

And if you protest (never terrorize), choose the right damn audience.