Fat Protest

What matters lately

Happy Friday, my friends! I am writing today about what I’m protesting lately. I would love to hear what you’re up to, protesting, and just enjoying. Always feel free to email me at thefatdispatch@gmail.com or reply to this email.

TLDR: 3 things I’m protesting right now—

1. A local billboard

2. ICE & deportations

3. The genocide in Gaza

The Local Billboard

A few weeks ago, I noticed a new billboard up in my small town of 20,000 in rural East Texas.

I was incensed! I snapped this photo, called the billboard company to complain, and posted in my local Facebook group something like, “Does anyone want to protest this billboard with me? Confederate history should be taught but not celebrated or honored!”

And, boy, did I not anticipate the amount of hate and vitriol that my post would generate. People called me ignorant and hateful, and someone said they reported me to ICE (I’m guessing because of my middle name, Martinez?). Over a hundred comments later, I decided to close the comments on the post because of all the hatred.

I shouldn’t have been surprised by the white supremacy, but I was.

I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I’m thankful that I was exposed to just how much hatred lives in our community. I am more aware now of what my Black neighbors face on a daily basis, and I’m praying for change and making it myself by standing up to racist thinking and by leading a book club this summer at our public library. There is so much more work to be done, but we move forward one step at a time.

ICE & Deportations

Kilmar Abrego García is still wrongfully imprisoned in El Salvador. And he’s not alone. Hundreds of human beings are being wrongfully detained in the US, in El Salvador, and in Djibouti. There is nothing humane about the way these people are being treated by the US government.

Minnesota governor Tim Walz says, “ICE is the new Gestapo,” and he’s not wrong. People are being torn from their families in violent ways, reminiscent of the Nazi police force.

What can we do? Be vocal about how wrong this is, on social media and in real life.

The Genocide in Gaza

I used to be a huge supporter of the nation of Israel. I believed that the country was an important step in ushering in Jesus’s return in the Second Coming. I even wore a Star of David around my neck to pray for the inhabitants of Israel to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus so they would invite Jesus back to be king of his homeland.

My support for Israel started to crack when I realized that it was a political issue, one that had less to do with religion than with alignment with Republicans. I had recently left the Republican Party to become an independent, and I realized that I had been a pawn in a political game that encouraged Zionism as one of its strategic pieces.

I started to learn that there is a difference between Jewish people and the Israeli state. There are Jewish people who support Israel as a nation, and Jewish people who do not. I condemn anti-semitism with all that I am, and I recognize that one can criticize the actions of the nation of Israel without being anti-semitic. I have also learned that one can be pro-Palestinian without being pro-Hamas.

I have learned about the violent establishment of the modern nation of Israel and the Nakba that tore so many Palestinians from their ancestral homeland. I have seen the horrific events perpetrated by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and the disproportional response from Israel, killing 15,000 children in retaliation. The blockage of food and medical supplies by Israel. The promise of refuge spaces and their subsequent bombing by Israel.

Per Merriam-Webster, genocide is “the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group.”

What Israel is doing right now to Palestinians in Gaza is genocide.

With my fat body, I will continue to protest these horrific occurrences. I recognize that by taking such stances, I will lose followers, and I’m okay with that. I’m following the incredible examples of women like Ms. Rachel and Greta Thunberg, who are risking their platforms and even their lives to support the Palestinian children and the adults of Gaza.

Hoping and praying for peace,

Amanda Martinez Beck