This one is for those of you still on the fence.

Nobody likes a hypocrite, and prevailing cultural norms refuse to set any statute of limitations on our indiscretions. Once a cheater, always a cheater. Once a liar, always a liar. Cross the line and there is no going back.

Don’t throw stones if you live in a glass house.

Your mother told you that. And if she didn’t, you heard it somewhere and often. You internalized it to the point where the threat of being found out as a hypocrite muzzles you from speaking out against anything that you might have participated in.

We give our kids condoms and needles because we can’t imagine that they would be better than us at our worst.

We’ve all made mistakes. We’ve all made bad choices. But the current zeitgeist chooses to ignore the possibility of recalibration, at least in the public sphere where spectacle remains the focus and obsession. We’re not so far removed from the gallows or the guillotine.

Our kind will never stop calling for blood.

Mob hysterics aside, we all know (or at least intuit) the value of making amends. A guilty conscience is restless, thirsty, and hot. We seek confession, repentance, the waters of absolution. We lament the loss of our moral authority, our excision from civics, politics, and religion. Our misadventures have disqualified us from playing a role in addressing the ethical dilemmas of our time, and we yearn to once again be useful.

Israel is an apartheid state engaged the systematic extermination of indigenous Palestinians. Their genocidal campaign makes use of arms provided by the United States via multi-billion dollar grant packages that line the pockets of congressional shareholders with investments in the defense industry. The siege of Gaza is an humanitarian, environmental, and existential catastrophe without contemporary parallel.

This is not up for debate. My moral imperfections do not blind me to these realities. And you see all of this just as plainly as I do.

But maybe you choose to stay quiet. You equivocate. After all, both sides have their share of bad actors. It’s not your problem. It’s nobody’s problem. Religion is the real problem here. Or corruption. Whatever it is, it’s outside of your control so no real reason to pick a side.

You imagine that yours is the voice of neutral authority, but in reality it’s the meek whimper of a neutered morality.

This is because you cannot escape your hypocrisy.

You live on stolen land, as I do. We are the benefactors of an ongoing campaign of displacement and occupation. We cannot therefore speak against the atrocities that share the same colonial pedigree at the very core of our comfort.

Gaza is a smoke screen. The dead bodies, the piles of rubble, the starving masses, the talking heads- none of that is the real story.

Our response is the only thing that matters.

Your first step is to right the wrong that keeps you muzzled.

Learn about the Landback movement. Find out about the people who used to live, hunt, and otherwise maintain the land that you now claim as your own. Learn about their work to resume sacred stewardship and support them in whatever way you can.

The Dust and Tribe Camp One homestead is located within the ancestral homelands of the displaced Nisenan people. We have committed ourselves to a personal monthly stipend payable to their homeland reciprocity program in addition to a percentage of revenue generated through Dust and Tribe activities.

The moral clarity this gives us as we consider our ongoing response to the Palestinian genocide is invaluable. We are making amends in the best way that we know how, healing ourselves and our extended community even as we explore still greater reconciliation opportunities. In this way, Gaza is both the catalyst for global change and the end-game.

For more on the indigenous perspective on Occupied Palestine, check out the Red Nation podcast Palestine playlist.

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