A year of turmoil

By David W. Marshall
TriceEdneyWire.com Columnist

The year of 1968 remains one of the most historic turning points in history. This single year was marked by historic achievements, assassinations and protests over a much-hated war.

It was a year which literally transformed the future of a nation. While young white students protested the Vietnam War, frustrated Blacks protested racism and poverty at home. The assassination of Martin Luther King on the balcony of the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis unleashed a wave of violence, looting and arson in cities across the U.S. Two months later, on the night of the California primary, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was leaving the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles when he was shot by a young Jordanian immigrant Sirhan Sirhan. Born in Jerusalem, Sirhan later said he assassinated Kennedy out of concern for the Palestinian cause and felt betrayed by the senator’s support for Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967. After Kennedy’s victory in the California primary, he was in reach of securing the Democratic presidential nomination.

One has to wonder what would have happened to the direction of our nation if Sirhan was not motivated by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Whether a person is a supporter of Israel or pro-Palestinian, the conflict between the two sides has a long and complex history of impacting our political landscape. Universities have always been breeding grounds for political activism. Protests against the war in Gaza have now spread through American college campuses where students are now being arrested, suspended and setting up encampments in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

On October 7, Hamas and several other Palestinian militant groups launched a surprise attack into southern Israel resulting in approximately 1,200 deaths and over 200 hostages in Israel. Hamas said its attack was in response to the continued Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict will never be seen as a win-win scenario abroad or here in the U.S. The current protests may not ever reach the magnitude of the student protests of the 1960’s against the Vietnam War or the 1980’s against South African apartheid, but the level has risen to where they can impact the results of the 2024 U.S. presidential election – especially against the Biden campaign. Biden has a problem now with Arab-American voters which was part of his winning coalition in 2020. If they decide to stay home, it is still a “protest vote” which supports the prospects of a Trump election.

The president has been steadfast in his support for Israel, but has repeatedly denounced the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Biden’s embrace of Israel is seen by some as a political liability. Others feel the president needs to be harder on Israel. Biden has received both pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian backlash in recent weeks. It exemplifies the no-win reality leaders often face in politics. The student-led protests on college campuses is not only about the long held dispute over an independent Palestinian state, it has now turned into a fight over the humanitarian crisis for Palestinian civilians living in Gaza. The biggest losers in this struggle are the civilians, Israeli and Palestinian. Hamas, the de facto governing authority of the Gaza Strip has used Palestinian civilians as human shields in conflicts with Israel since 2007. Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza has resulted in the killing of more than 33,000 Palestinians and injuring more than 75,000 others. Some 1.7 million Palestinians, nearly 75 percent of the population, are estimated to be internally displaced and are vulnerable to hunger and disease. For Israeli civilians, the October 7 Hamas massacre was labeled the bloodiest day in Israel’s history and the deadliest for Jews since the Holocaust. Many of the 200 hostages still remain captive.

Any nation, including Israel, has the right to defend themselves. But at what point does the oppressed become the oppressor? The human dignity of an innocent civilian should always be defended. This is true if the person is American, Israeli or Palestinian. When you take away the basic rights of human beings because of hatred, it simply perpetuates more hatred and mistrust. The depth of active hostility shown by Sirhan Sirhan in 1968 is still alive in 2024.

On May 19, President Biden will be giving the commencement speech at Morehouse College. The announcement was met with an immediate backlash from Morehouse students and faculty opposed to Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza. The alumni reportedly drafted a letter calling on the school to drop the president’s commencement address. Needless to say, the president will be exposed to uncomfortable protests as he speaks at the alma mater of Martin Luther King Jr. a social justice advocate. The backlash to from Morehouse and other universities extends from the fight for human dignity. In this year of turmoil and given Joe Biden’s no-win situation, the president should give the Morehouse social justice crowd a presidential social justice message. Meanwhile, acceptance of the new Israeli proposal for a cease-fire will help diffuse the protest at Morehouse and other universities nationwide.

David W. Marshall is the founder of the faith-based organization, TRB: The Reconciled Body, and author of the book God Bless Our Divided America.

This article originally published in the May 6, 2024 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.