![]() ![]() “And we’ll be back next week!” shouted an audience member in response. At the end of the meeting, council member Mary Black and Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin asked the city manager and attorney to consider language for a resolution similar to Carrboro’s. The video recording of the meeting shows activists sitting behind the lectern wearing “FREE PALESTINE” shirts and holding up their hands, painted red. A ceasefire means Hamas is going to do this again, the hostages are going to stay in Gaza, and it’s going to be endless war.”īut, at least in the council chambers of the Triangle, supporters of a ceasefire have been louder than their opponents.Īs the Carrboro council discussed the resolution, the Raleigh city council heard hours of public comment in support of a ceasefire at its own Tuesday evening meeting. A ceasefire will not make the killing stop. Hamas is dedicated to the destruction of not only Israelis, but to Jews worldwide,” Reitzes told the council. A ceasefire means more war, not less war. “Calling for a ceasefire is a promise for more violence. Peter Reitzes was one of the few speakers in Carrboro town hall who spoke against the resolution, arguing that Hamas would not honor a ceasefire. The Carrboro council has passed resolutions on similar issues before, including a March 2022 condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. No voices should be muted in this resolution.” “There is too much to be taken into account, and one resolution could never hold it all. “The issue is complex and divisive, which is why I don’t want to weigh in on it,” council member Foushee said at the Carrboro meeting. Council member Barbara Foushee did not vote for the ceasefire resolution, pointing out it did not mention Hamas or call for the release of the Israeli hostages. She’s also related to Barbara Foushee, Carrboro’s mayor-elect, who currently sits on the town council. Just a few weeks before the Carrboro council passed the ceasefire resolution, it proclaimed “Braxton Dunkin Foushee Day of Service” for December 13 to celebrate his legacy of service and Carrboro’s Black history. ![]() Foushee is related (by marriage) to Braxton Foushee, Carrboro’s first Black council member. Foushee was born and raised in Orange County and has served the area at nearly every level of government, from school board to county commission to NC State house and senate. “We are looking at other ways to build pressure in district, so we saw the Carrboro town council as an opportunity to do that, especially because of her family ties to the area,” says Harry Hoy, an organizer for the Triangle chapter of Jewish Voices for Peace. And while people in Gaza probably aren’t paying attention to a resolution from the Carrboro town council, activists hope it will hit closer to home for Foushee. At the time, Foushee told INDY she had been “fighting for a progressive Congress before those folks on Twitter knew how to spell ‘progressive.’”Ī year after the primary, as the death toll in Gaza continues to climb, activists have found municipal governments newly willing to push Foushee on her support for Israel. The Progressive Caucus of the North Carolina Democratic Party pulled their previous endorsement of Foushee because of those donations from AIPAC and its affiliates. gives Israel,” reported The Assembly in 2022, describing Foushee as a means to the end of defeating Allam. “AIPAC wouldn’t be in North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District if it weren’t for Allam, who has criticized Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and the $3.8 billion a year in military aid the U.S. In total, AIPAC, its members, and its affiliated super-PAC spent over $2 million dollars to back Foushee. Progressives and Allam supporters criticized Foushee for accepting over $400,000 from the American Israel PAC (AIPAC), in what became the most expensive Democratic primary in the state’s history. In her 2022 primary, Foushee beat Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam, a Muslim American woman. This month marks only the most recent chapter in a saga of tension between Foushee, who identifies as progressive, and the often young and online activists who see her positions on Israel as not progressive enough. Valerie Foushee Credit: Courtesy of the subject ![]()
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