"Hind's Hall"

If the West was pretendin' that you didn't exist You'd want the world to stand up and the students finally did

This week, rapper Macklemore released “Hind’s Hall,” a new song supporting encampment protestors on college campuses across the country. The song honors Hind, a 6-year-old Palestinian girl who was murdered by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) after surviving the tank fire that killed the rest of her family. The Red Cross medics who answered Hind’s calls for help were also killed by IDF gunfire. Protesters at Columbia University took over the school’s iconic “Hamilton Hall” and renamed it “Hind’s Hall,” in her honor.

The 40-year-old, Grammy winning, father of three is still likely known to most Americans for his 2012 hit song, “Thrift Shop” which he released without a record label with collaborator, Ryan Lewis. The ode to Goodwill was named the no. 1 song of the 2010s by Billboard in both the rap and R&B/hip-hop categories, and it single-handedly made thrifting cool again. 

Since then, however, the rapper has often taken to giving political issues center stage in his music. Macklemore’s previous political anthems include "Wednesday Morning," written as a response to the 2016 presidential election, along with “White Supremacy'' parts one and two which are fairly self explanatory. These examples are likely to be enjoyed by listeners squarely in the “left” camp, but his 2013 hit, “Same Love” advocated for LGBTQ+ rights and marriage equality before the Supreme Court’s decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationally—a message anyone committed to liberty can appreciate. 

“Hind’s Hall” opens by directly addressing the campus protesters and their demands, along with challenging some of the narratives the media have been spreading. 

The people, they won't leave
What is threatenin’ about divesting and wantin' peace?
The problem isn't the protests, it’s what they're protesting
It goes against what our country is funding

Much of the horror seen at these protests has been at the hands of police called in to break up the encampments, even where there is no violence to speak of.

When I was seven, I learned a lesson from Cube and Eazy-E
What was it again? Oh yeah, f*** the police

I imagine Macklemore identifies with the ACAB crowd.

A positive political shift of the last several years is that Republican and Democratic voters generally do care about corruption in a way that used to be reserved for outliers. Our politicians have failed to hide how they have largely sold out their constituents to the mega-donors whose money they have become addicted to. 

You can pay off Meta, you can't pay off me
Politicians who serve by any means
AIPAC, CUFI, and all the companies

In these lines, Macklemore specifically highlights accusations made last December in an open letter from Meta employees that included allegations of censorship of pro-Palestinian voices on Facebook and other Meta platforms. But he doesn’t stop there. 

The American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is a group that has lobbied American politicians to adopt pro-Israel policies (even at the expense of America’s own needs and concerns) since the early 1960s. AIPAC uses their war chest to buy the influence of some of the most powerful lawmakers in the country. In just the 2024 election cycle, OpenSecrets indicates that the top ten recipients of AIPAC donations are six democrats (including $1.06 million to perhaps the most corrupt current member of Congress, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), and $320,000 to Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), the current House minority leader) and four Republicans (including $246,341 to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), and $158,075 to Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who is said to be on the shortlist to be Donald Trump’s 2024 running mate).

AIPAC doesn’t only use their millions to keep those friendly lawmakers in office, they also target those who do not commit to put Israel first. In 2024 alone, AIPAC is expected to spend $100 million dollars to ensure that any politicians who are not sufficiently pro-Israel will lose their elections. This includes some progressives like Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) who is the only Palestinian American elected to federal office (until Justin Amash wins his Michigan Senate run, inshallah). 

By this point, AIPAC is known by many, but those outside of the American Evangelical bubble may be less familiar with the other group mentioned by Macklemore. Christians United for Israel (CUFI) is a Christian Zionist organization founded by San Antonio pastor, John Hagee. Even if you are unfamiliar with this group, don’t be mistaken by thinking they don’t have influence—CUFI boasts over 10 million members, making it the largest Zionist organization in the United States. This is despite the fact that Hagee has been repeatedly caught up in scandals related to making antisemitic and despicable comments (such as “God allowed [the Holocaust] to happen” and that Hitler was sent by God to be a “hunter” of Jews who didn’t move to Palestine at the turn of the 20th century in efforts to establish a Jewish state).  

AIPAC, CUFI, the super PAC Democratic Majority For Israel (DMFI), and more have worked hard to make our elected officials so dependent on their donations that they “will never support any kind of conditions on [sending U.S. taxpayer dollars and weapons to] Israel” as Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) continually says. (It’s also been reported that Fetterman “allowed DMFI to edit his Israel-Palestine platform while running a primary against a more centrist candidate” to prevent the Israel lobby from backing his opponent).

You can ban TikTok, take us out the algorithm
But it's too late, we've seen the truth, we bear witness
Seen the rubble, the buildings, the mothers and the children
And all the men that you murdered, and then we see how you spin it

Seeming determined to lose his bid for reelection, President Joe Biden signed a foreign aid package last month that included a bill requiring TikTok to divest (ironic) from their Chinese-owned parent company, ByteDance, or risk being banned in the United States. Many lawmakers have tried to make this move about a new Red Scare and fear of China, however their real motivations are obvious—mostly because they say them out loud. 

Before her inevitably failed presidential run was officially over, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley made the asinine statement that, “for every 30 minutes that someone watches TikTok every day they become 17% more antisemitic, more pro-Hamas.” It’s such a mystery that she couldn’t convince voters to choose her over the equally insane but significantly more entertaining conman the Republicans will be supporting once again.

More disappointing honesty came last week from Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) who has started to reflect on the sad state of his party during his final term. On this issue, sadly, he is as bad as ever. 

"Some wonder why there was such overwhelming support for us to shut down potentially TikTok or other entities of that nature. If you look at the postings on TikTok and the number of mentions of Palestinians, relative to other social media sites — it's overwhelmingly so among TikTok broadcasts."

Say the quiet part a little louder, why don’t you, Mittens.

There has been so much dishonesty in how everything from Israel’s siege on Gaza to the protests against it have been covered by the media, but as far as I’m concerned, nothing is more insultingly dishonest than to equate opposition to the actions of the government of Israel with antisemitism. Macklemore tackles that lie next. 

We see the lies in ’em
Claimin’ it's antisemitic to be anti-Zionist
I’ve seen Jewish brothers and sisters out there and ridin' in
Solidarity and screamin' "Free Palestine" with them

I’ve personally attended multiple pro-Palestine protests. The participants in each of them have been incredibly diverse, and more importantly, they have all been organized at least in part by pro-Palestinian Jewish groups. The individuals leading Jewish Voice for Peace and If Not Now are beautiful humans fighting for the lives of their Palestinian brothers and sisters. To call these people (and ANYONE begging Benjamin Netanyahu to stop slaughtering innocent people) antisemitic is to declare that you have zero credibility and you are not interested in discussing this issue in good faith. 

If students in tents posted on the lawn
Occupyin' the quad is really against the law
And a reason to call in the police and their squad
Where does genocide land in your definition, huh?

Destroyin' every college in Gaza and every mosque
Pushin' everyone into Rafah and droppin' bombs
The blood is on your hands, Biden, we can see it all
And f*** no, I'm not votin' for you in the fall

So many people in American politics and media have had more vitriol and hatred for students raising their voices to end the funding of an ethnic cleansing than they have for the IDF destroying every university, 32 hospitals, 86,000 houses (damaging 300,000 more), 25,000 buildings, and over 340 mosques and churches, including Saint Porphyrius Orthodox Church, where my friend’s family (Palestinian Christians) was killed. 

Those protests I’ve attended warned Biden long before Macklemore that he was destroying his chance at reelection by giving Israel a blank check to kill as many children as they want. 

Millions of people are singing that last line with pride right now. 

Yet the music industry's quiet, complicit in their platform of silence
What happened to the artist? What d'you got to say?
If I was on a label, you could drop me today

Say what you will, Macklemore isn’t letting anyone off easy. It’s one thing to call out politicians and governments a world away, but it takes courage to hold a mirror up to your peers—to the people you respect.

What you willin' to risk? What you willin' to give?
What if you were in Gaza? What if those were your kids?
If the West was pretendin' that you didn't exist
You'd want the world to stand up and the students finally did

For the first month or so of this onslaught, I cried myself to sleep every night. Comforting lies like, “Israel is the most moral military in the world” couldn’t comfort me anymore. When I saw bomb after bomb, broken body after broken body, war crime after war crime, all I could do was think about my precious nieces and nephews. Every time another mother wailed in misery holding her dead child in her arms, I thought about them. When doctors on the ground in Gaza had to create the acronym WCNSF (wounded child no surviving family) I thought about them.  When it was reported that at least 10 children a day were having amputations—many without anesthesia—I thought about the children in my life that I would die for. 

The children being hit by our bombs in Gaza are every bit as precious as the ones I hold dear. And as Jordan’s Queen Rania said only a few weeks after this brutal offensive began, “Palestinian mothers love their children just as much as any other mother in the world." 

What if you were in Gaza? What if those were your kids?

Every mother, father, aunt, uncle, brother, sister, and human soul on this planet should ask themselves these questions. 

Then no one could possibly wonder what is driving these students to raise their voices together. Like the Jewish organizer at the first protest I attended beautifully sang-prayed into a megaphone outside the White House, they’re saying:

Not in our name.

Not in our name.

Ceasefire now.

Ceasefire now.

I applaud Macklemore for “Hind’s Hall.” It’s a devastating masterpiece. May it inspire many more to access the courage and empathy of its author, and may they soon add their voices with ours.

#CEASEFIRENOW