Bangladeshi Americans for Political Progress (BAPP) expressed support and solidarity with Representative Rashida Tlaib after her censure by the 118th Congress. Congresswoman Tlaib has been incredibly brave and resilient for the past month. To be censured in front of this Congress for “promoting false narratives” is to deny, denigrate, and chill freedom of speech and expression formally for so many Americans who want to see a peaceful, liberated world where human dignity is preserved and protected.
Rashida Tlaib is the only Palestinian-American in Congress. She is the sole representative in this nation to have such a unique perspective on what a lasting solution could look like. Instead of this Congress identifying solutions to end a conflict that has taken over 10,000 Palestinian lives, 1400+ Israeli lives, and millions more emotionally scarred, it has decided to formally rebuke her and send an additional unconditional $`4 billion in military assistance to Israel to continue its ethnic cleansing of Gaza. To this, we say shame on this Congress.
Rashida Tlaib is in good company for creating “good trouble.” There is nothing more American than speaking up, sharing dissent from current policies, and holding to your identity to ensure that every Palestinian and Israeli life should be sacred. In 1842, the House of Representatives censured a young Joshua Reed Giddings because he supported abolition. Today, we see the same for Rashida Tlaib.
She continues the long-storied tradition of fighting for the truth and for those experiencing the consequences of genocidal intent. Political Progress can only come when what you value is what you uphold and uplift. Rashida Tlaib maintains the beauty of Palestinian Americans from the river to the sea, from Michigan’s Great Lakes to the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean, dreaming of a world where every Palestinian can truly live free.