I’ve already voted thanks to the Washington state mail-in ballot. I feel good about who I voted for, a straight blue ticket including Kamala Harris.
I have family members and friends who are Republicans (a few), Green Party and independents (some), and mostly probably Democrats including progressive friends who don’t agree with me on voting for Harris for reasons I may basically understand but don’t agree with.
There have been times in my life, mostly when I was younger, when I didn’t vote in elections because I didn’t think it mattered, or when I voted for independent candidates because I agreed with what they stood for more than the major party candidates. I don’t regret those, but I am really against those choices now because I believe (with a lot of evidence) that Donald Trump is the most dangerous threat to the future of Americans and to the people of the world that I have seen in my lifetime. I say this as the 1st generation daughter of a German Jewish refugee father who spent some of the war in an internment camp. (See https://gabiclayton.com/about-me/heritage/).
So if you are considering not voting in this election or voting for Jill Stein or some independent candidate (who I believe has no chance of getting elected now) because you don’t like Kamala Harris’s position on Gaza/Palestine, Lebanon, Iran and other countries in the Middle East countries — I agree with you.
Supporting Israel with weapons and not taking the strongest possible stand against Benjamin Netanyahu who is a war criminal leading the Israeli government into active genocide against the Palestinian people and others — means that America is — I am — complicit in these horrors.
That doesn’t mean that I was okay with the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel, but I understood that it didn’t come out of nowhere. There is a long complex history of conflict and violence between them.
I want Kamala Harris to come out now with a policy that agrees with me — no matter what Joe Biden believes and does. I don’t know that being the Vice President is why she hasn’t, but that has been one explanation I have heard from others, and it isn’t good enough for me.
I believe that things will be much worse for us and for everyone if Trump gets elected because he has proved that he doesn’t care about anyone other than himself. He is an immoral, dangerous, unstable man who is willing to do anything to get and stay in power. He is a fascist and wants to be a dictator. He has already proven that he will take down the American democracy (as imperfect as it is) and everyone who stands in his way and doesn’t always support anything he wants to do.
And I believe that if Donald Trump gets elected — which is frighteningly possible right now — things will be worse for Gaza/Palestine and all the Middle East countries — including for Israel. The violence any of them do — no matter how they justify it — only makes others hate them more and makes getting to peace that much harder. The violence we do and that we support only makes others hate us more as well.
The recent circle design with the words “I AM THE ENEMY WITHIN” which I created and shared is no joke. If Trump gets elected I will not stay silent, and I understand that I could wind up in his crosshairs and could be imprisoned or killed.
And if Harris gets elected I will not be silent. Our work — my work — will not be over. I will continue to do whatever I can to work and speak out against America’s support of Israel’s war crimes. If you believe because of this that I am anti-Semitic and hate Jews, I hope you will consider that my stand is not based on anyone’s religion but on the behavior of governments and individual persons in it.
I don’t hate America any more than I did when I protested against our war in Vietnam and the Gulf War, etc. I hate our involvement and behavior when it supports this horror against human beings, and I will be protesting that no matter who gets elected.
If you are planning to vote for Donald Trump, please don’t. If you are planning to vote for Jill Stein or a third-party or a write-in candidate, PLEASE join me and vote for Kamala Harris.
We should be working for peace. We can do better. I know we can.
Gabi Clayton
October 27, 2024
UPDATE After the Election
This is the updated version of my image, created after the election on November 9th:
