This time of year rightly brings the Selma to Montgomery anniversary observances — and like so many earlier years, we have to mark the setbacks that the nation has endured: the Supreme Court's evisceration of the Voting Right Act and affirmative action, to name two.
Which makes this photo of the Vice President of the United States even more powerful. Would John Lewis have imagined this back in 1965? Not bloody likely, no pun intended.
Vice President Harris used today's ceremony to send a message about Gaza: Israel and Hamas need to agree to a six-week ceasefire, she said, both to get Israeli hostages home and to get food aid to Palestinians. Meanwhile, Americans need to understand that for a ceasefire to occur, there are no magic wands for the Biden Administration to wave — both Israel and Hamas must agree to it. The fact that Harris mentioned it today means that Team Biden must have thought it important and/or necessary in order to influence negotiations.
What do we cats worry about? The fact that Israel has a Prime Minister whose personal interest rests in perpetual war (and getting Trump elected again). Maybe opposition leader Benny Gantz's upcoming trip to Washington will help to shake things loose.
Meanwhile, the message of Selma is clear: People need to be free. Whether we're talking about Black Americans or Palestinians, the exhortation remains. We cats PURR.
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