Bearing Witness at the DNC
With the vote, all things are possible in 2025. Without it, nothing is.
Cross-posted from Freedom Road.
The Democratic National Convention called Americans to listen to our neighbors with different political views. A plethora of Republicans along with a wide range of ethnic and gender identities took the stage throughout the epic four-day convention. In one heart-wrenching moment, the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, American-Israeli taken hostage by Hamas at the Nova Music Festival on October 7, 2023, shared their story with the world. But the DNC flatly rejected a plea by Palestinians to share their own story from the same stage. In fact, the “Big Tent” party’s stage featured no Palestinian voice at all.
This is an ethic of erasure. Croatian theologian, Miroslav Volf, in his seminal theological treatise, Exclusion and Embrace, explained the ethic of erasure can take many forms. It can manifest as social erasure, red-lining, internment, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, or genocide.
Erasure in any form is not neutral. It is violent. It eviscerates the God-given dignity of human beings. In fact, it denies their humanity all together. Erasure, in any form, when practiced by governments is a fundamental betrayal of its citizens. The most basic charge of government is to protect the human dignity of its citizens.
In the Christian tradition followers are called to live according to the Jesus ethic—the ethic of the Beatitude’s radical embrace of “the other,” active love of enemies, peace-making and controlled power. The first three nights of the convention focused on domestic policies that enacted a profound Jesus ethic. The platform championed strategies to address poverty by strengthening the middle class, ending gun violence, increasing affordable housing, and strengthening families through increased healthcare and paid family leave.
But night four pivoted to foreign policy. The DNC tacked hard away from the Jesus way. Rather, the Democrats dove headlong into an ethic of nationalism, domination and erasure. In that context, the DNC excluded the Palestinian voice from its Big Tent. In that context, diverse flag-waving Democrats worshiped at the altar of American nationalism. Grabbing moves from the Roman imperial playbook, they hailed the U.S. as the savior of the world. Jesus would have something to say about that. And In that context, Kamala, herself, boasted that our military is “the most lethal in the world.”
In the face of its overt, unapologetic erasure of Palestinian Americans from its stage and the mounting Gaza death-toll topping 40,000 last week, this hard tack right jarred my soul. But the jarring was a gift—it brought clarity.
The DNC is not the Kingdom of God. And Kamala Harris is not America’s savior.
When we vote this election season, this truth is a critical part of our collective context. Another critical part of our context is our two-party political structure. In a two-party structure, we only have two realistic choices. That’s it—two. One of the two choices before us will win.
A profound question is being asked by activists navigating this conundrum: “What is worse than genocide?” The simple truth is: Nothing is worse than genocide.
The truth of our reality is: There is something worse than the situation we are in right now.
Currently, Netanyahu and Biden are committing genocide in Gaza while Netanyahu has recently intensified his effort to ethnically cleanse (remove) Palestinians from the West Bank. It can get worse—much worse.
During his debate with Biden, Donald Trump said he would tell Netanyahu to “finish the job.” In other words, his policy regarding Israel/Palestine would be to commit genocide in Gaza and the West Bank. Imagine the horror of Gaza enveloping The West Bank, too. Imagine 70,000 pounds of ammunition falling on families in Bethlehem, in Hebron, in East Jerusalem. Imagine the gray stench of death permeating every inch of the West Bank. This is the dystopian policy of a Trump presidency.
Plus, he has committed to dismantling the rule of law on day one and promised his followers they will never have to vote again, because he will fix the vote. His packed Supreme Court has already declared him immune from prosecution for any atrocities he commits in foreign or domestic policy while president. So, like the dictators he reveres, Trump would likely deport, imprison, or execute anyone who dared to dissent. There is nothing worse than genocide, except the expansion of the purview of that genocide—with no ability to dissent.
At the DNC, my eyes bore witness to the truth of who we still are as a nation—a white and western supremacist body politic—both Republicans and Democrats. Like Rome our nation is committed to the lie of “peace through domination.” Domination might achieve silence, but below the surface the image of God is writhing in pain and degradation. The Jesus way calls us to peace through confession of truth, through repentance for wrong-doing, and through grace to embrace those with whom we vehemently disagree.
This, too, is our collective context.
In this context I will continue to push the Biden administration to repent of its complicity with Netanyahu’s war crimes, crimes against humanity, and plausible genocide. I will push the Harris/Walz campaign to expand its imagination—to lead us all away from the way of domination and erasure, into a truly new way forward—into the ethic of love and joy for all. And I will cast my vote for a woman whose public ethics I agree with in some areas and vehemently disagree with in others, but who is otherwise committed to protecting the most basic form of democracy in our nation—the vote. With the vote, all things are possible in 2025. Without it, nothing is.
President and founder of FreedomRoad.us, Lisa Sharon Harper is a writer, podcaster and public theologian. Lisa is author of critically acclaimed book, Fortune: How Race Broke My Family And The World—And How To Repair It All.
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