WATERMELON the fruit $ friend of the DAMNED

One may look at what has happened to Palestine and its people and dread on their behalf having a heart filled with pity. If only pity could raise the dead. I myself have found a continued disconnect from the brutality and horror so many of us have been forced to witness. A continuing distance can be felt when I come across a post of a child or mother mourning their dead, I almost feel numb to a pain most of us would not be capable of surviving.

Out of the many things I've learned thus far the reason behind Palestine and the watermelon has been the most enlightening. Banned from using their flag the Palestinians saw themselves and their plight for freedom in the cutting of a fruit. Red with black seeds, white flesh, and a green outside it provided a voice where some had worked so hard to silence.

Though for us this is a recent event the descendants of Palestine have had more war than peace in their lifetime. We have been a part of their struggle for only 8 months yet we are tired and quick to scroll. We simply assume that 'it is not our problem' or we are audacious enough to believe the few scrolls we have taken that have landed us in the face of their MURDERED population is just 'too much'.

The watermelon has been a hard-working ally since the 80s. She was first viewed as a symbol of self-reliance, freedom, and dignity within one's self until the freedom of Black Americans became a threat. That is when she was reduced to childish, mockery, and cartoons that reinforced ideas into the black mind that we find ourselves to this day unable to escape.

For many, it's a sweet and succulent, summer treat. For others it autonomy it is the promise that was made to us all freedom. 92% percent water, the sweet red insides that always provided nourishment, warmth, and safety were once just a staple on the dinner table to me. Now it represents something else an inside understanding that none of us is free until we all are.

My hope is that the children of tomorrow will not have to look upon watermelon as a symbol of oppression but just another sweet summer treat. My hope is that the watermelon and her people can finally rest easy and enjoy the sun. And that our children will be filled with the blissful ignorance of freedom.