It seems only fitting to end on a nice round number with Episode 70 of BRC and Friends. Those who have been hanging out with me for the past decades have been through a few manifestations of this space, including its very beginning as a VodCast that began 10 years ago with my very first guest, . [Watch Episode 1]

Special thanks to Co-Hosts, Laura Mariko Cheifetz, Micky ScotBey Jones, Jorge Perry Bautista, and Amy Kim Kyremes-Parks. Also, thanks to Merissa Magdael-Lauron, who composed and edited the intro and outro vibes!

If you are already subscribed to BRC & Friends, you need not do anything as I’ll use the same feed for the new podcast.

Thanks again and I’ll see you in Fall with Episode 1 of The Amalgamation Podcast with Bruce Reyes-Chow

BUST THE ALGORITHMS by subscribing to my substack, The Amalgamation, my email list, The Communiqué, and my Youtube Channel.

We can also STAY CONNECTED on the socials via Instagram, Threads, and Facebook. I occasionally hang out on other platforms via @breyeschow on them all.

A few weeks ago, we were connected with the Gaza Solidarity Network to get matched with someone in Gaza who is trying to raise funds to evacuate. This is obviously not the ideal solution (ceasefire and rebuilding are), and it is unfair that some families will get paired while others will not. Occupation and genocide are also not fair, so we do what we can.

From @GazaSolidarityNetwork

Our philosophy: We approach evacuation efforts from a mutual aid model of "solidarity not charity." Therefore, instead of painting certain Gazan families as perfect victims or exceptionally "worthy of saving," we seek to help as many Gazans as possible from a place of respect and joint-struggle. At the same time, we must balance the inherent contradictions that come with crowdsourcing within the attention economy of social media, which requires that Palestinians share intimate details of their lives and trauma to gain visibility via social media algorithms.This project seeks to connect as many individuals as possible with vetted campaigns so that we can all leverage our personal networks to support individual families while partaking in collective coordination with one another.Join us in the movement toward repairing humanity. Thank you for reading.

As of this posting, they have helped raise over $100,000, so if you want to be matched with a family, here is the form to fill out. Please keep in mind that this is completely run by volunteers (and I suspect young folks), so there is a huge backlog. They vet the GoFundMe so you can be assured that you support an actual family. *Sigh* Sucks that so many take advantage of these situations. We were matched with a family of nine, the Watfa, and are getting to know them via text/talk. We just posted our first video and would appreciate you sharing, giving, and following as you can!

Greetings from the RCP Family!

Like many of you, over the last six months, our family has wanted to do more to impact the lives of those experiencing genocide in Gaza. Thanks to the work of the Gaza Solidarity Network, we are now engaged in mutual aid campaign to help a family raise money to evacuate.

We have been matched with a family currently living in one of the camps in Gaza: Samah and her husband Ahmed and her father and mother and siblings: Muhammad, Youssef, Abdul Rahman, Hanaa, and Hadeel. We have contributed to the effort and will now help them raise the rest. While making refugees raise $5000 per person is not an ideal solution to what is happening in Gaza, this is what it takes to cross into Egypt and to safety. Our family is getting to know them via talk and text and would like you to meet them now too.

Until we raise enough to bring them to safety, we will share glimpses of their lives, plead for your spare resources, and encourage you to do your part in calling for the safety, justice, and rebuilding of Palestinian lives and homes. As we have shared in our communications, “We hope to meet one day after the war” so please help this become more than a hope, but a reality. Please follow @samah_safi132 and @ahmedwatfa039 on Instagram, reshare and repost, and give as you are able.

Sent with love, Bruce, Robin, Ev, Abby, and Analise

In what seems like a lifetime ago, I posted this a few weeks back after my return from my second delegation to Palestine. Even with all of the most recent acts of terror inflicted upon the people of Gaza and the accelerated violence in the occupied West Bank, I am still left with the same question as I have been posing since last year, “What will it take to speak out and act up?”

This video is crossposted on Instagram and TikTok, so any resharing or reposting would be much appreciated.

Transcript

 As some of you know, I just returned from Palestine, my second trip this year. And once again, seeing how the Palestinian people are treated, it is heartbreakingly obvious that they live under oppressive occupation and a blatant apartheid state. If you have been silent up to now, I don't really know what more to say to convince you to act up and speak out in order to stop what the state of Israel with U. S. support is doing in Gaza and increasingly the West Bank.

* How many more violent images have to show up on your screen in order for you to act?

* How many more times do Palestinians need to put their trauma on display in order for them to be believed?

* How much disproportionate destruction must you witness before you can drop the narrative that this is a conflict between equals?

* How many times do you need to hear people like me before you will step out from behind the veil of complexity and privilege?

* How much of your money needs to be spent on war before you will demand your public servants do better?

* How many more futures will be extinguished before we collectively say enough is enough?

While some will judge you for your timing, it is not too late. While the road to peace and liberation will take generations, I believe this current onslaught only comes to an end if those of you who have been silent up until now finally choose to speak out. I hope you will. Peace.

It’s actually this week (What is time?) but anyhoo, we are headed your way New York, and we cannot wait. It's been too long since we've visited your lovely city!

First things first: We already have show tickets, but help us fill out our week! Where should we eat, and what should we see?

But you are also invited . . .

SUNDAY, JUNE 2The Riverside Church (In person or Online)11:00 am Preaching 12:30 pm Booktalk & Signing 490 Riverside DriveNew York, NY

TUESDAY, JUNE 4 6:00 pm Conversation with Natalie PerkinsSponsored by Lafayette Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn & Greenlight Books85 South Oxford StreetFort Greene, Brooklyn, NYFREE TIX/RSVP ON EVENTBRITE

You can see the rest of my summer stops here