Palestinians Received Both Harassment and Support at the DNC
At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, “uncommitted” delegates faced intimidation, an excess of security, and attempts to silence them. But they also found widespread support for their views.
Uncommitted delegates protest the DNC’s refusal to allow a Palestinian-American to speak. Branko Marcetic / Jacobin
“Block them! Block them! Block the line of sight!”
This is what Sabrene Odeh, a Palestinian American Washington state delegate for the antiwar “uncommitted” movement, recalls her state’s party leaders and Kamala Harris delegates yelling, as they moved quickly on the convention floor to make sure no one saw her and her colleagues protesting President Joe Biden’s speech. Then it got physical: one particularly zealous state party representative, a young woman, was so close, Odeh recalls, that she was “on my arm,” as Odeh asked her to step away. Odeh’s story was corroborated by another delegate who witnessed the fracas, who described the woman as “practically standing on” her.
“I felt so dehumanized in that moment,” she says.
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