I've been working with this Jewish organization called
Never Again Is Now trying to draw comparisons
to the Holocaust and the violence that's
happening in detention centers and concentration camps.
And so I've been going to a lot of protests
to shut down ICE buildings.
And so this is one that's in conversation with that work.
Because you know how at a demonstration,
you chant a thing over and over again,
and then it disappears in your head
and becomes multiple other phrases?
So this is called "Never Again Is Now."
And it's in five bits.
And in between each one, can y'all just clap when I show
that?
Yeah.
We can try it when I lift my hand on three.
[CLAPPING]
Cool.
Want to try it one more time?
Great.
"Never again is now is never again is never is now.
And again is never is now again is never again is now.
And now again is never again.
Again is again is now.
And now is never again is never and then is never is now."
[CLAPPING]
"Never blood work.
Never registry.
Never passport.
Never agree to let them search your home.
Never go out at night alone.
Never record them so they can see your phone recording.
Never sign anything without reading first.
Never sign anything.
Never agree to speak, even if all they
feed you is meats that offend your God.
Never ask to use the bathroom or have
a body that requires a song.
Never give them a reason.
Never believe reason has any place here.
Never attend the demonstration with your face exposed.
Never wear a mask.
Never sign your name or trust your neighbor
or believe it's going to be OK.
At least the worst is behind us, they sang on their way
to the camps.
Never let your suffering isolate you
from the suffering of strangers.
Never believe history is a finished thing,
that it doesn't live here in your very breathing.
Everything's fine.
Everything's business as usual.
Never believe a word they say."
[CLAPPING]
"Again, laws are passed following an invented tragedy.
Again, a nation is manufactured from salt. Again,
riot cops arrive with their faces removed.
Again, a line is drawn by militarized uniforms.
Again, camps are built on the border
between two imagined countries.
Again, our suffering the garnish on the meat of empire.
Again, it's business as usual.
Again, the president says the best thing you can do now
is shop.
Again, my grandmother can't bear to read the news.
Again, my grandmother shakes her head, and crows fly from it.
Again, I write the lawyer's number
on the meat of my forearm."
[CLAPPING]
"Is this my country?
Is this my mother?
Is this my mouth?
Is this my mother tongue, her mother's tongue?
May I use it?
Is this isthmus or Ismael?
Is this an island I'm trapped on, separated from my people?
Is this land mine, this land mine?
Is this Israel?
Is it real?
Is it really?
Is Israel a state or a song you carry inside you?
Is it now?
Is there camps there, too?
Is this a test, this assimilation?
Is this the reason police didn't break up their demonstration?
Is this what my grandparents dreamed of when
they fled their country?
Is this the field narrowing?
Is it so wrong?
Is the truth self-evident?
Is all men created?
Is that a light at the end of the tunnel,
or is that the barrel of a gun?"
[CLAPPING]
"Now, the hour.
Now, thunder.
Now, the time for all good men now against the wall.
Now, with both hands behind your back.
Now, write down the names of your next
of kin, where they pray.
Now is the time.
Now, sign your name on the dotted line.
Now, another people cross a desert,
are stopped by men who believe they are gods.
Now, remember, you're crossing.
Now, remember your cross.
Now, put this blindfold on.
Now, go out and shop.
Now, business.
Now, pray cops.
Now, that's what I call love.
Now, love your government.
Now, your neighbor a reason not to love you back.
Now, don't throw a brick.
Now, don't use your body to block a government building.
Now, don't riot for anything but sport.
Now, don't flood the streets with rage horses.
Now, history begins.
Now here at the beginning of history.
Now is the beginning of history at the beginning again."
Cool.
Thanks.
Cool.
Yeah.
All right.
Cool.
Thank you for listening.