Public Comments Pushing For A Ceasefire Resolution By Beacon Community Members
/Below are some of the 3 Public Comments pushing for a Ceasefire Resolution by Beacon (which the council did pass that night), the Mayor Lee Kyriacou gave the gravel when we broke “The Process”. This is what it looks like when you are breaking up through the pavement. Cracking the sidewalk. Cement is hard to break. Our soft bodies cannot do it alone. But know this: the cement is breaking. 2 Mondays ago Melody’s (1st in this series) soft spoken voice spoke of “selectively empathetic”. Mayor Lee gave a harsh gravel to when she went over time. Why did she go over time? Because she was hot and took her jacket off.
Katie, owner of A Little Beacon Blog, (second in series) went over time. No big excuse except that Katie did insert an extra 3 sentences into her opening and didn’t want to cut her poem or not say her call for hostage release or Israeli kids being put in jail for resisting serving in IDF military. The 3rd speaker tried to finish her speech clearly outlined and limited in her phone, but the City Administrator Chris White unplugged her microphone, and called the police on her. Meanwhile, the Mayor Lee himself left his table to come around and took his list of Public Comment names to walk up to her to read away her presence. As if he could stand and state another’s name, so that she would vanish. She will not vanish.
Free Palestine. End the Occupation.
ALSO NOTE: The actions of the Mayor banging the gravel caused drama (and actually a good rhythm for her to continue), and the action of the City Administrator pulling the mic chord to turn off the mic actually made speakeNeesee need to speak louder. Actions cause reactions. Which is what we are discussing with Palestine/Israel. Played out right here in the City of Beacon Courtroom.
The man speaking, ALBB could not hear his name, compared Israel’s response to the armed resistance of Hamas to Newburgh one day deciding to bomb Beacon, and then people asking for a ceasefire from that. This statement did not acknowledge that Israel is the occupier of Palestine, and has suppressed any right a Palestinian has to do most things. Worse than America’s segregation that the Civil Rights movement had to buck hard with sacrifices to break. This is why Israel is called “an apartheid state.” He referred to Hamas when saying: “People who are terrorizing their own citizens are here tonight in this room on their [Hamas] behalf asking you for a ceasefire resolution.” At that point, the man was interrupted by Khitam Jamal Nakhleh, who is Palestinian, where she pointed out that the man had just called everyone asking for a ceasefire “terrorists.”
Mayor Lee Kyriacou did not tone the man down or call out the man’s incorrect accusation, but did reprimand the audience. Mayor Lee reset the man’s time, and then allowed the man to go over his 3 minutes without hitting the gravel. Unlike many speakers, the man did not have a prepared speech. A prepared speech indicates an end. A speaker following this man, Neesee @palipaltz , used her time to point out what had just happened, which lengthened her time to speak for the prepared speech she read from her phone. Her speech is in the prior slide.
