War continues to rage in Palestine, and as more and more eyes fall on Gaza, questions continue to swirl. In Rapid City, a candlelight vigil for Palestine was held to keep those questions front of mind.
A few dozen advocates met on a muggy Saturday night at Rapid City's Wilson Park to light candles and direct their frustrations at U.S. support of Israel.
Advocate Golnessa Asheghali, who spoke at the event, said it’s important to meaningfully engage with others in the hopes of reaching a humanitarian conclusion as soon as possible.
“We don’t get a medal or a pat on the back for being here today — it’s the obvious position," Asheghali said. "If you have disdain for your neighbors, your coworkers, your family members, you’re doing it wrong. If you can’t talk like a normal person to people you disagree with, you’re not helping Palestinians and you’re not helping anyone. We have to try and do better, friends.”
Dr. Jamin Hubner is an economic and theological history lecturer at LCC International University in Lithuania who lives in Rapid City. An organizer of the event, he said there are parallels between historic wrongs and what’s happening in the Middle East.
“What’s happening in Gaza and Palestine at large is something that’s been going on for 500 years," Hubner said. "In Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, South America, and chunks of Africa – it’s called colonialism.”
Hubner closed his speech with a poem from Palestinian professor Refaat Alareer.
“If I must die, you must live to tell my story," Hubner said, quoting Alareer. "To sell my things, to buy a piece of cloth, and some strings. Make it white with a long tail. So that a child somewhere in Gaza, while looking heaven in the eye, awaiting his dad who left in a blaze, sees the kite. My kite you made flying up above and thinks for a moment an angel is there bringing back love. If I must die, let it bring hope. Let it be a tale.
NPR reports Alareer, and much of his family, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in December of 2023, two months after the beginning of conflict in Gaza.