The Scalawag Team took much-needed time away to reset and recover during the month of October.

Now that we have returned from our Fall Break, it's imperative that we speak truth to power and fervently condemn the genocide we are witnessing in Palestine:

As a publication that has previously covered Palestine and its connection to Black and Southern liberation movements, we denounce mainstream Western media outlets that have caused and excused harm through their coverage.

Members of the Scalawag team have joined many of our media colleagues in signing an open letter of solidarity with Palestine that formally condemns Western media’s violent misrepresentation of their struggle against the Israeli apartheid regime.

This misrepresentation has portrayed this moment of escalation as a war between equal sovereign military powers and has openly endorsed what is tantamount to ethnic cleansing.

As fascism and other systems that seek to fracture our shared humanity continue to rise in the West, it is our duty as journalists, essayists, and abolitionists to profess our commitment to our decolonial and anti-carceral values.

It is our responsibility to uplift Palestinian voices and amplify Palestinian writers as they share their experiences with the world.

This moment serves as a reminder that abolitionist and independent media are incredibly important in the face of misinformation and propaganda from mainstream outlets.

The work that Scalawag and similar publications have done and will continue to do brings our readers the words of oppressed people rather than the words of those with the institutional power to maintain oppressive systems.

We will continue to speak out about the impact this atrocity has on Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and across the diaspora; we will be steadfast witnesses to Palestine's fight for survival in the face of immeasurable cruelty.

We mourn every life taken since the onset of this brutal occupation; our hearts are especially with the Palestinian people who have contributed their stories to Scalawag. Even in our grief, we will not look away.

With love and righteous rage,
Scalawag