Graduation Is Parents' Day Not Hamas

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Graduation is parents' day. Leave Hamas-Israel politics out of it. Photo, Sasha Obama with mother Michelle Obama. It means a lot to African American parents who think education will lead to acceptance by the majority.

Graduation is a day of pride for parents. If you are a trust fund or ‘legacy’ baby and have laboratories or study halls named after your grandparents, you will never understand when somebody says: “Thami my niece, is the first to graduate in our family.”

Parents look forward to graduation. It is their day, more than their kids in the Class of 2024. Therefore, it must be very painful for them to see that what they have invested in, plays second fiddle to global politics like  supporting Hamas, in a faraway country called Israel.

“Who is Hamas?”

That will be their question, before we shush them because we are embarrassed. African American parents know about Israel because of the bible. "Let my people go,” pastors preach every Sunday, but black parents do not understand how events on the other side of the globe can rob them of graduation: their day to shine. They invited long lost relatives, divorced spouses, even hostile neighbors to come and witness Thami my niece graduate.

“Who is Hamas?”

That is a pertinent question because our parents and grandparents believe in solidarity. Hamas, whoever he is must believe in sacrifices they made to send their kids to college so that they don’t clean for the white man like themselves. Grandparents saw graduation as the solution, a bridge to the other side. Therefore, anyone who prevents them from attending their niece’s graduation is not a friend.   

Grandparents might not have a Masters’ degree, but they know that Arabs called Hamas will never sacrifice their kids’ graduation or religious passage for some black kids in Massachusetts or Harlem. Family comes first. Grandparents just want their day in America: graduation. Hamas or some foreign groups have never cared for black children, and are not about to start now.

Nonqaba waka Msimang

Blogger Without Borders

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