A NOTE FROM OUR FOUNDER
I have spent the last couple of weeks on the traditional, unceded, and ancestral territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), shíshálh (Sechelt), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations learning from leaders of these nations about the history of genocide on the nation state we now call “Canada”.
I’ve also spent the last week listening to voices from Gaza about the ongoing displacement, violence, and dehumanization that Palestinian people have endured for decades and that is frighteningly ramping up right now.
As the steward of Living Hyphen – a community whose mission has always been to amplify the voices that all too often go unheard – it is my responsibility to share, in no uncertain terms, that we are unequivocal in our support of a free Palestine. We are unequivocal also in standing up against anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, both of which we are seeing a frightening rise of in this moment.
We are committed to working across racial and religious lines to dismantle all systems of oppression and towards our shared liberation through our gifts of storytelling and story sharing.
The history of Indigenous struggles for freedom and sovereignty is vastly different from that of Palestinian people, and yet the dynamics of power and oppression play out ever so similarly.
It is, sadly, a tale as old as time.
And it is one that is mirrored in many of our own histories as people from diasporas around the globe who have been harmed by colonization, occupation, racist immigration policies, and other oppressive systems.
“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
Dr. Martin Luther King wrote these words in his now famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” addressed to fellow clergymen across different religions. I remind myself, and this community that I am humbled to hold, of Dr. King’s teachings of interdependence and interconnection.
These are teachings that exist in so many of our cultures around the world and that have existed across generations.
Echad. Ubuntu. Kapwa. Lak'ech Ala K'in.
Unity. I am because you are. Our shared identity. You are my other self.
These are not empty platitudes. These are universal laws that govern our world whether you choose to believe it or not, in the same way that gravity works whether you believe it or not.
Can we learn how to hold and harness power without domination? Can we imagine a world that invests more heavily in our healing and shared liberation than it does in continued violence and harm? Can we be the generation that breaks this vicious cycle?
In these heady days when the news and social media cycle are unrelenting, may we remember that compassion is not a zero-sum game.
I, personally, am holding compassion for all Palestinian people who are mourning the loss of their homeland and who have been struggling for their freedom and basic human rights. I am holding compassion for all Jewish people whose grief in this moment has been weaponized by corrupt leaders of oppressive systems to perpetuate even more senseless violence.
I am holding immense, immense compassion for both Palestinian and Jewish communities who have been unfairly thrust into a position where they must tirelessly educate the rest of the world about their complex history and remind us all of their humanity.
The other day I caught a glimpse of a pod of orcas on a ferry ride back to the mainland. In First Nations cultures of the Pacific Northwest, the orca is often known as and is associated with compassion, protection, community, and solidarity.
I am taking that as a sign from the ancestors.
May we all carry the spirit of the orca with us during these challenging times. May we rise to meet this moment and build a just world together.
Isang bagsak.
Justine Abigail Yu
