A message to protesters: show your face

By William MacKenzie,

A group of more than 40 interns working in President Biden’s  White House and other executive branch offices have sent a letter to Biden and Vice President Harris accusing them of having “ignored” the “pleas of the American people” and calling on the Administration “…to demand a permanent cease fire.”

“We, the undersigned Fall 2023 White House and Executive Office of the President interns, will no longer remain silent on the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people,”

But despite the “We the undersigned” start to the letter, there were no names and signatures included.

The demand for anonymity among protesters these days is cowardly, frustrating and annoying.

When Patrick Henry implored “Give me liberty, or give me death!” on March 23, 1775, he didn’t wear a face mask or send an anonymous letter to King George. He spoke up in a speech to the Second Virginia Convention at St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia.

But many of today’s most virulent protesters want no such personal exposure. They’d rather blend in with the mob, obscuring their individual responsibility. They want free speech without consequences.

Observe the videos and photographs of ““From the river to the sea!” protests around the United States.

In early October, the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee put out a statement on its Instagram page that was originally co-signed by 33 other Harvard student organizations saying they “hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence” in the wake of a deadly invasion of Israel by the Islamist militant group Hamas.

But after an intense local and national backlash from lawmakers, professors, and other students, the organizers removed the list of student organizations from the open letter.

At a pro-Palestinian “Vigil for the Martyrs of Palestine,” by Georgetown University students, nearly every one of the students hid their face with a mask. Similarly, when Several hundred people gathered in Bruin Plaza at UCLA for a walkout and march in support of Palestine, and when pro-Palestinian students at Princeton staged a walk-out and demonstration, many wore masks.

Come on now. Wouldn’t it be better for people to stand behind their convictions?