One of us grew up in Gaza, the other, a Jewish American, in Skokie. Both of us are runners. And we’ve decided to deliver a message of solidarity by not only standing together, but running together. And by delivering a message to our political leaders at the Democratic National Convention.
We both live just outside Chicago now and have been watching the spiraling madness in Israel-Palestine for years. Then came Oct. 7 and everything that followed. The violence and the inequities have since driven humanity into a hibernation so deep, it’s hard to fathom that we will ever emerge. Yet, here we are, more than ten months into the latest war between Israel and Hamas, a war that is being funded with American tax dollars.
Watching the continued carnage, we are certain of one thing. This war must end. And it must end now — before any more lives are taken.
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To send the message that a different future is possible, every morning at 7:30 at Buckingham Fountain during the DNC, you will find us running together on Chicago’s lakefront, sending the message that a different future is possible. We’d like to have you join us.
There is something about running, a preternatural bonding between runners. We subscribe to the notion that if you run stride for stride with someone for a mile, it will be impossible to hate them. You don’t even need to be a runner to understand. You just need to imagine it. And an absence of hate is a good place to start to supplant the evil of this war.
Not so long ago we were talking about organizing a marathon stretching from the West Bank through Israel and ending at the Gaza Strip. Now, that dream seems impossible — that marathon today is best measured in years rather than miles.
We are calling for an end to the war and an end to the occupation. We are calling for the return of all hostages, prisoners and displaced civilians to their homes. All for all and equal rights for all, including Palestinian self-determination on the same basis as Israelis. Not a dollar more of our tax dollars should go toward providing the weapons and munitions that fuel this war. Instead, the billions of dollars the U.S. has been expending for this war should be repurposed for immediate humanitarian relief.
Anan Abu-Taleb, former mayor, Oak Park; Richard M. Goldwasser, attorney, Highland Park
We must get past political division
The Democratic National Convention seems to have a lot more protest marches scheduled than we saw with the Republican connvention even though both had predetermined presidential candidates. Why might that be? Perhaps because the marchers perceive that one political party still has the capability to read reality and represent a wide range of people.
However, a system that divides us is broken by its design, like Humpty Dumpty when he fell off the wall. On some level, we realize that partisan politics cannot be fixed. It is spiraling downward to give us candidates who only seek personal power and are very willing to tell us how to think and act, so we don’t have to think at all and can save ourselves from the “bad guys.” This is coercion, not justice for all.
In contrast, some people are looking at the reality of the powerful effects of mutual support seen when we band together to face recurring climate or other catastrophes. They believe each of us has a latent power to contribute to the well-being of all of us. We feel happier when we are helping others.
Approaches that encourage cooperation lead to more fair and compassionate outcomes, but changing how we act requires us to look inward at our basic beliefs. Do we believe all humans deserve equal justice, equal access to water, food? Do our actions match our words, or do we value the bottom line more than fellow human beings?
The answer will be seen as each of us tones down our anger and ramps up our compassion for people who don’t look like us. The answer will be seen in how we work together to face the next COVID-like virus, which may well be mpox. The answer will be seen as we go into overdrive to make and deliver vaccines to the places most affected now to stave off another global disaster, or not. The choice is ours.
Mary Hansen, Northbrook
Bus-only lanes on DuSable Lakeshore Drive could work
There has been considerable discussion of bus-only lanes on DuSable Lakeshore Drive. Express buses on such lanes can turn into “local” buses once they leave dedicated lanes and with the help of signal priority can provide excellent service.
On the other hand, if not enough people stop driving on the Drive, traffic congestion could become very high. This could have a significant effect on air quality and greenhouse gas emissions. In the long run, it could also have an impact on the economy of downtown Chicago, which could negatively affect much needed transit funding.
It all depends on how many people would use the express bus service — and especially how many would divert from driving. To assess this, careful and competent analysis is needed. We hope such analysis was done in making the recommendation that there be no bus lanes on DuSable Lakeshore Drive.
Ashish Sen, former director, Urban Transportation Center, UIC, former board member, CTA; Siim Soot, former director, Urban Transportation Center, UIC, former president, Illinois Universities Transportation Research Consortium