Credit: Emily Suzanne Eder
It is uncommon for a sitting United States Senator to come to speak in Pine Plains. It is also uncommon for protestors — chanting in unison, waving homemade banners — to be removed from an event by Pine Plains police. But that is exactly what happened on Sunday, March 3, when U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand came to town.
Demonstrators inside Stissing Center called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza at an event organized and hosted by Northern Dutchess Democrats, who rented the space for a moderated conversation that featured Gillibrand and N.Y. Sen. Michelle Hinchey.
Credit: Darrah Cloud
Tensions surrounding the humanitarian crisis in Gaza surfaced even before the event, when Gillibrand was seated at a window-side table in Storybook Café and a protester, standing just outside, brandished a sign that read “stop funding genocide.” Despite the tangible tension, the Senator went out to talk to him.
Inside Stissing Center, after being introduced by former Democratic candidate for Dutchess County Clerk Kenya Gadsden, Gillibrand was asked to share her biggest successes and highlights from the last few years. She thanked the audience and organizers and began to state her record but was quickly interrupted by a member of the crowd, Pine Plains resident Jamie Gerber.
“Excuse me, Senator,” Gerber said. “80% of Democratic voters want a cease-fire in Gaza, why don’t you?”
Gillibrand asked if she could first finish answering Gadsden’s question before addressing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Gerber, standing up in a room of about 100 seated individuals, refused to wait. “Children are actively starving in Gaza right now. Why do you not support a cease-fire?”
“I do, especially if we can return the hostages,” Gillibrand responded.
Gerber continued, “Will you publicly call for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza?”
“I am publicly encouraging Hamas and the Egyptians and the Qataris to negotiate release of the hostages in exchange for a permanent cease-fire,” Gillibrand responded.
Gerber continued speaking and the moderator called for order. The room then erupted into a cacophony of voices, with about 10 protestors proceeding to stand up, unfold signs demanding an end to violence in Gaza and chant “no cease-fire no vote!”
Credit: Judith Wolff
“Shut up!” a man said twice as the chants increased in volume.
“Just relax. Just relax, we hear you,” Gadsden said, as two police officers began gently steering protestors toward the building’s main exit.
In an attempt to defuse tension, Gadsden sang modified lyrics to the chorus of the 1965 single “People Get Ready” by Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions: “People get ready, there’s a train a-comin’, you don’t need no ticket, you just get on board.”
The protestors left the building to join about 20 people across Church Street who were also demonstrating against the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Since the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israeli citizens, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has reported 1,200 fatalities in Israel and over 30,200 in the Gaza Strip from the Israeli response. Of the over 240 hostages taken on Oct. 7 by Hamas, 130 still remain in Gaza, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Credit: Judith Wolff
According to a report by the International Rescue Committee, the resulting humanitarian crisis has left 90% of Gaza’s 1.9 million people displaced into crowd-like settings, with 95% lacking access to electricity and safe drinking water, the entire population facing food insecurity at emergency levels and 576,000 Palestinians facing starvation.
“I can’t stand by and let this happen, especially as a Jew,” said Lauren Kaplan, a resident of Pine Plains and one of the protesters. “The conflict that has been going on for so many years does not forgive the atrocities going on now. I can’t stomach all the dead children. Stop the killing. We don’t have to have a solution to know this has to stop.”
Milan Tax Assessor Michael Ferrante told the Herald he was there to “stop the genocide being committed with tax dollars.”
Inside Stissing Center, the event continued. “We can talk about the Middle East,” Gillibrand said. “For those people that did not want to stay to listen to my answer, I understand their anxiety, their fear, their frustration, the terror, the horror, the crippling devastation of what’s happening in the Middle East.”
I was disappointed in the coverage of the first meeting of the Pine Plains Northern Dutchess Democratic organization. There were protesters, sure — but Mr. Grego did not ask which organization the protesters belonged to, nor who coordinated the protest. Mr. Grego did not write objectively about the meeting — the number of people who filled the Stissing Center to standing room-only capacity, the multiple standing ovations Gillibrand received. There was NO coverage of her emotional recounting of what it was like for her to personally interview Palestinians who were suffering in Gaza, and Israelis who had lost people in the Hamas attacks, nor the horrific sexual violence that had been endured by Israeli women during the Hamas attacks. Most importantly, there was no coverage of Gillibrand’s thoughtful response to the protesters, demonstrating that she was listening carefully to the issues and her outline of the concrete actions that are required for a long-term solution.
Finally, I was saddened that the masterful way in which Gadsden used a technique learned from Civil Rights struggles — using song to bring people together rather than to let yelling be the only form of communication — was not accurately reported.
Grego’s own opinion is clear — but the Herald must work harder to be balanced. This is a difficult issue for many, but I had come to expect more of the Herald.
Wow. Not one word from or about the almost 200 people from 8 towns who attended the meeting and the critical issues they came to learn more about, including Gaza AND local emergency services, water infrastructure, and women’s rights in the face of sexual violence.
I heartily endorse the right to protest and share much of the protestors’ sentiment. However, The Herald’s “news” story was an op-ed piece. It did a tremendous disservice to the Paper. The NPPH’s mission is to serve as a reliable online source of local news and … highlight events and developments in our community, cut through misinformation, stimulate thinking and informed action, and encourage honest and civil discourse on community matters. The “story” did almost none of the above.
The Northern Dutchess Dems event was an object lesson in democratic discourse. Elected officials spoke, people protested and were heard, and their questions were answered civilly and thoughtfully. There was no violence, and no one’s life was threatened—a newsworthy occurrence in today’s political climate. Pine Plains delivered.
That very democracy is at stake in this election cycle. Voting and free speech are privileges few in the world enjoy and, until recently, deprived of many Americans: Give us the ballot, and we will transform the salient misdeeds of bloodthirsty mobs into the calculated good deeds of orderly citizens. May 17, 1957, Martin Luther King on Brown v Board of Ed
In the last two years, there have been more than 400 targeted killings of human rights defenders who were deliberately targeted and killed because of their human rights work. A record number of journalists were killed for writing about or against their governments.
If the NPPH wants to stimulate informed action, let’s talk about how Pine Plains delivered on democracy.
Hurrah for Patrick Grego for rightfully making this article all about genocide. I do have some issues with some of the framing. 1. The protesters were “removed”. Fair enough, but it was the intent of the group to be removed if Gillibrand refused to address their ceasefire demands without excuses. As the article reflects, the senator took one full sentence before blaming Hamas, which she did throughout the morning, never once holding herself or Israel accountable for the “humanitarian crisis”, a phrase used several times by the Herald. It’s one of the examples of whitewashing of what is a deliberate and systematic slaughtering, degrading and starvation of tens of thousands of children and women.
2. The protest begins outside the cafe when the senator went out to talk to a protester about the “humanitarian crisis” (why not use “human animal crisis” or “Amalek” like Israeli officials have?). Outside the Stissing Center before the event was the first of four encounters I had with different “officials” regarding my potential misbehavior inside (I had an RSVP) and my two scarves representing Palestine. The Herald’s coverage of the verbal exchange between Gerber and Gillibrand is excellent as it highlights the purpose of the event – the VOTE. No Ceasefire. No Vote. Later on, Gillibrand dehumanized the protesters by calling them “people who did not want to listen”. Brilliant coverage by the Herald.
3. Then comes the real problem. October 7, Hamas attacks Israeli citizens…1200 Israel fatalities…30,200 from Israeli “RESPONSE”…hostages taken by Hamas. The following list is basically the definition of genocide/ethnic cleansing without, once again, calling it just that. What the Herald could have done here is list Gillibrand’s $350,000 in donations from AIPAC and the $14 billion package to Israel not two weeks after the IDF murder of Hind Rajab and her relatives. I think something about Hind Rajab came up regarding this article because I was interviewed about it. The Herald, perhaps, opted to erase a little girl by making her a statistic to reinforce the senator’s final sentiment. Hind Rajab is nothing but what’s “happening” the Middle East, and we can “talk” about that.