Each week on the airwaves, I join Imhotep Gary Byrd, the radio griot on WBAI, WBLS, and WLIB. On many occasions we have Larry Hamm, Chairman of the People’s Organization for Progress (POP), with us to report on political affairs and various activist movements.
Last week, he enlightened us with a story about Chris Smalls, a labor activist, who had just returned from a harrowing journey with 21 other activists as part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition. They were bound for Gaza to provide humanitarian relief when the Israeli Defense Forces apprehended them in international waters on July 27.
Smalls, who has gained international recognition for helping to organize the founding of the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), was the only African American on the boat and after being detained, was brutally beaten and held for five days. Larry explained to us on air that he got up before the break of day to drive out to JFK, last Friday, to be part of a huge delegation welcoming Smalls home. “Free Gaza. Free the people of Palestine. That’s all it’s about,” Smalls told the throng of supporters.
“For me,” Larry said, “it was reminiscent of the time when Nelson Mandela came to the U.S.” Smalls said he was glad to be back home and that the detainment and beating were not going to stop his commitment to Gaza. “We’re gonna send another flotilla, and another one after that. And we’re never gonna quit and give up.” Nor is there any quit from Larry and the POP, which could also mean the People of Palestine. Whenever the next flotilla sets sail, this activist-journalist would love to be part of that voyage and we need an armada of ships to provide food, medical supplies and equipment, and moral support to Gaza where thousands have been killed for just trying to get something to eat.
Chris Smalls has shown his courage and promise to continue his struggle, let’s join him in this enterprise of freedom and liberation.