In the last week, I have consumed media almost exclusively about two horrors: the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Texas and daily reports of Palestinian youth murdered by the Israeli military.

I have spent months living in a refugee camp in the West Bank.

My friends and neighbors have all experienced physical violence at the hands of the state or settlers throughout their lives. Because of this constant threat and experience of violence, I was shocked by the shock of my friends here when I told them about the events of the massacre in Texas. Growing up with lockdown drills to prepare for a potential active shooter was completely foreign to them. Yet these are the same people whose schools have been tear-gassed, their children shot in the street, while the international community turns a blind eye.

The experience of reading and watching coverage of the inefficacy of the police, as well as the clear lack of any sense of morality from lawmakers who take millions from the gun lobby but won’t pass common sense legislation to prevent gun violence, demonstrates so clearly the hypocrisy of American foreign and domestic policy.

I am living in an area that American citizens are advised to avoid because of the purported danger of terrorist activity. Yet these same people, who are labeled terrorists by the international community, are both terrorized daily with the help of funding from American tax dollars and horrified at the normalcy of school shootings in the United States.

Chloe Daikh
Portland

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