They are there. Women in Black, in mourning decade after decade on the street, grieving for the dead multitudes who perished from injustices. For many years when I drove down Main Street in New Paltz on Saturday, I would read the placards and give a thumbs-up in support.
Now, there are people on the other side of the street, too. That’s new. We are a small community and yet there is enough diversity on the Gaza-Israel conflict to divide our local religious congregations — families too. Neither side has the power to stop the killing or succeed in changing many minds. Opinions on the current catastrophe run very deep and touch core identities. What’s the point of the Women in Black anyway? What are they accomplishing?
I asked.
Linda Abbott and Naomi Allen, long-time members of Women in Black, agreed to talk to me about their mission.
For the first 15 years, the women in New Paltz who stood in front of Elting Library every Saturday, rain or shine, maintained complete silence. The first demonstration was inspired by 9/11, the war on terrorism, Islamophobia, the invasion of Afghanistan, which wound up lasting 20 years.
In the beginning, there were only ten participants. On snowy days, sometimes as few as two or three would stand in silence. They never canceled.
They used to hold an array of signs and banners representing different causes. Eventually, it was decided to pick four or five “topics” to rotate, standing in protest for one cause per week. The topics picked by the group were: Black Lives Matter, the environment, war and militarism, the murder of George Floyd and others, women’s rights. Free Palestine was part of the rotation long before the current conflict. On October 7, a Saturday, Free Palestine came up in the rotation.
Responses from the cars rolling by were often supportive, but also there were negative reactions as well, cursing or sticking up of the middle finger. Hundreds of people showed up after the killing of George Floyd. During the early days of the pandemic, although they were scared to be in crowds, they wore masks and persisted. The two older women I interviewed have the drive, passion and persistence of youth.
It was me that turned the interview to politics. I wanted to know if they would display a banner protesting the rapes and gang rapes of Israeli women that happened on October 7, actions by Hamas that the United Nations has since acknowledged occurred.
I began to feel a tightening once the communication turned to highly charged arguments. That feeling, happening so often now, words of protest starting in the gut, gaining power and projectile vomiting out the mouth or not. Sometimes it is better not to argue, to keep opinions private in order to preserve personal peace.
I wanted a nice exchange, devoid of political discourse from the opposing sides; an absurd request. It was me who turned the discourse.
Afterwards, against my will, I took a deep dive into their side of the issue, a painful process which caused me inner despair, confusion and doubt.
The title to the 1931 protest song, “Which Side Are You On,” was repeating in my psyche. In our time, in our town, the question now and probably for many weeks to come will be: “Which side of the street are you on?”
Can a protest happen in the middle of the road, a dangerous place to stand? Is not picking a side cowardice, or does it require the courage to inhabit the place where absolutes are unknowable?
There are peace makers and peace breakers on both sides of the war. The peacemakers, those who are willing to sacrifice for peace, are not the ones in power on either side of the conflict. People are getting hurt. Hurt people hurt, then they hurt other people in a continuous flow of destruction. The Women in Black and the people on the other side of the street are responding while many are complacent enjoying Saturday activities, being with family, shopping, walking the trails. They are a reminder of the violations, the lack of harmony in our troubled world. As Elie Weisel said, “The opposite of hate is not love. It’s indifference.” The Women in Black caution us to remain aware. That alone is good.
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