by Tamuira Reid
Gordon, 74, Crown Heights, Retired Vet and Woodworker
I saw my best friend, my platoon mate in Nam, get his entire head blown off right in front of me. The whole thing. Nothing left from the neck up. A soldier, a kid really, suddenly without a head. It was there and then it was gone. He was there and then he was gone. Like everything else there, up for grabs. Nothing lasts forever was more like nothing lasts for a minute. No one lasted even if they made it out of there alive. But I don’t wanna get into that. Anyway, so me and him we’d been playing cards the night before and were talking shit like normal, probably about our women back home. He had a few but he was a good guy. Loved his country. Proud. Never questioned our government like some of the other guys did. Pure patriot. So he gets his head blown off and I’m telling you, that was the day I said to hell with all of this. We’re all gonna die out here and for what? Some problems you just can’t fix, no matter how many grenades you got. So I look at Israel and Palestine and that beef goes back longer than anyone here understands. You can’t just say “we own you” and then not think that maybe, maybe one day there will be a price on your head for that. Sleeping giants is what happened. Israel got too comfy thinking Palestine was accepting being owned. Never. Those motherfuckers will never accept that. They out for blood. Can’t say I blame them. The most dangerous people in the world are the ones who have nothing to lose because it’s all been taken from them. And the worst thing outside of death you can take from any man is his freedom. I’m an old Black man living in America. I’ve seen some shit. This country always likes a good villain. They need one. If it isn’t me, then it’s the Arab down the block, you know what I mean? But the US needs to stay out of this. Giving all this money to Israel to blow away anything that moves in Gaza sure looks a hell of a lot like 9/11. And how did that go for us? For the world? I served my country but I would not do it again blindly. My faith has limits. Vietnam destroyed my faith in a lot ways. I have faith in God but I would never put a uniform on again. I’m too damn old anyway.
Sophie, 32, Park Slope, Artist
The situation is just terrible. Situation doesn’t really do what’s happening justice. What would I call it? Terrorism. Death. Erasure. I’m a Jew and all I hear is the word genocide being thrown around like it’s a ball. Bouncing back and forth between the continents. But let’s be clear: there are 16 million Jews left in the world. How many Muslims? We lose a thousand of our people and that’s a lot, you know. A lot. I don’t think all these “progressive” New Yorkers get this. At least I don’t hear anyone talking about it in the way they are about Palestinians. The Holocaust isn’t something that just happened for no reason. It was to end the Jewish people, obliterate us. That’s genocide. Israel going after Hamas after what they did to us isn’t close to genocide. There over a billion Muslims in the world today. Think about that. Even if Israel wipes out every Palestinian, which I am not advocating for in any way, but even if they did Muslims would still exist. That might sound heartless or whatever but it’s the truth. Jewish Lives Matter. Why is this so hard for New Yorkers to say? Our government, Biden, Mayor Adams have condemned Hamas and these brutal acts of terror on the Jewish people, but at a neighborhood-level that’s not what I hear. There’s so much sympathy for Palestinians in the city because we are liberals and everyone in the liberal democratic party takes the side of the “oppressed”. And in this case, Israel, Jews are the oppressor. It makes me want to shake people, like again, have you ever heard of the Holocaust? Don’t talk to me about oppression. Don’t tell me Israel doesn’t have the right to defend itself against anyone threatening our existence. The hypocrisy in this city is ripe. It’s gross. I’m sick of it not being called out. I’ve been called a racist for calling Hamas what they are— terrorists. My partner is Muslim, by the way.
Jayce, 14, Bushwick, Student & Big Brother
Hamas is mad dumb. They fucked-up. Like why you pick a fight with a T-rex when you’re a lizard? That’s just some dumb shit right there. But, I’m not gonna lie. They got some balls. They got some big-ass balls. They went and bullied the bully. I’ve got Muslim friends and probably Jewish friends and we’re are cool with each other. We don’t go around talking about this all day like the parents and teachers. Maybe teachers talk more quiet about it because they’re scared of saying the wrong thing and they’ll get fired or that students will get stupid. But it’s more adults that are being crazy over this. My grams has news on all day now and it just gives her stress. I don’t want to be like that. I say “grams, don’t trip” because where is it? Pakistan or some shit? Middle East or wherever. She’s acting like there’s a war in Brooklyn. It’s a war, right? I don’t know. I stress about police before I stress about Muslims shooting anyone. And Muslims got police on them, too. I don’t know about Jewish and the police. I don’t think it’s a problem as much for them. Probably because they look white? I don’t know. See now you got me stressing.