Mixed emotions
Dear Editor:
My emotions over the events at the Creating Change Conference regarding the reception and presentation organized by A Wider Bridge ( AWB ) that I attended Jan. 22 are all over the place. At least 150 Jews and friends from the Conference and Chicago Jewish organizations attended a beautiful Shabbat service held in one hotel room and, then, as we were leaving for the reception ... all hell broke loose!
Anger, confusion, frustration, fear, ignorance, sadness ... and the list of my emotions goes on.
I am extremely disappointed in the conference leaders and the Hilton Chicago, who knew that there was to be a protest but were not prepared to respond in a timely manner and to keep their guests and visitors safe. This is inexcusable. Hotel security and police did arrive, but long after the problems peaked.
And your article's title "Protesters shut down Israel-focused event at Creating Change" is just wrong. People in the AWB Reception room stayed, and the event went on—maybe not as planned, but it was not shut down. Even after most of the protesters left, people stayed.
I guess the first questions that I want to ask are: Who were these protesters? Who organized and recruited them to come and protest? How many of them were conference attendees or just outsiders? Were they LGBTQ? Were they Palestinians or from the Middle East? The three who crashed into the room were really full of hate! Polite discussion and listening were not on their agenda. The videos on your website showed that a lot of the protesters wore the official orange name badge lanyards. Those three persons who crashed into the room where the reception was held and stayed did not.
On a broader level, the National LGBTQ Task Force did not come out with a positive image, even beyond the very poor flip-flopping on the invitation to AWB. Creating a "safe space" for everyone, for different people and groups has been a significant part of our LGBTQ movement, philosophy and goals. THIS WAS NOT A SAFE SPACE that night! And the unsafe aspect was caused in a large part, if not all, by LGBTQ people!
Also, I doubt this quote from your article is true: "They [people at the Jewish event] abused people at the rally and punched them." Good propaganda, but most likely not true. I was in the middle of the crowds, and then holding the doors closed to preserve whatever safe space we could, and I saw none of this violence. And your article also states that "they threatened to arrest us." That would probably be the police officers who eventually did come to try to bring peace to the chaos created by the protesters.
And I still do not understand what the shouting of "I want my movement back!" means in the context of the evening's events! Google does not help answer that question.
The bottom line of this experience to me is seeing that our LGBTQ "community" is seriously fractured—often because of non-LGBTQ issues, with people who want to force their ( non-LGBTQ ) message on others, with little chance of healing. And for that knowledge gained last night, I am very sad.
Sincerely,
Norman L. Sandfield
LGBTQ community activist and
organization leader in Chicago for 40 years
* * * *
I quit
Below is Fawzia Mirza's letter regarding why she cancelled her workshop at last week's Creating Change Conference, held in Chicago.
Dear Task Force,
I have to tell you I am disappointed in the attitude of the National LGBTQ Task Force in handling the #PinkWashing event with A Wider Bridge at Creating Change 2016.
As a very active member of the Queer Chicago community, and as someone whose artistic work is committed to telling stories of marginalized communities, I was sad that the Task Force flip-flopped on an issue that is deeply, deeply important and triggering to many in our communities, Palestinian and Israeli, both in Chicago and all over the world.
I was excited to present my panel on the power of telling your own narrative through comedy and storytelling. But how could I present this workshop in good conscience when I knew that the stories and the reality of a marginalized community at the conference were being suppressed and not heard by the organizers.
I am Muslim, I am Pakistani, I am a woman, I am queer and I am a Chicagoan—and we are struggling enough for our voices to be heard, and to find safety and support without our own leaders making it more difficult.
I stand with the Black Lives Matter Chicago movement and with Tarab-NYC and with our communities of people who fight oppression everyday.
I am cancelling my panel at The Creating Change 2016 conference.
Fawzia Mirza
* * * *
Protesting the protesters
Dear Editor:
What recently happened in Chicago at the National LGBTQ Task Force's Creating Change Conference was a shame, not only for the Task Force leadership but also for the those organizations who endorsed this conference. That the Jewish community participants were treated in such a irresponsible fashion tells me that, even in our own community, the cancer of fascism is alive and well.
The Rainbow Sash Movement's board of directors has voted to publicly condemn such behavior as out of step with the guiding principle of our movement, which is inclusion.
We find such attacks on our Jewish brothers and sisters hard to understand, regardless of what motivates such actions. We condemn them. Simply put, we believe it was an attempt to hijack the conference for sectarian political purposes. It is our hope that Task Force Leadership will publicly condemn them also.
Joe Murray
Rainbow Sash Movement
