Aug 19, 2024; Chicago, IL, USA; Pro-Palestinian protesters march from Union Park during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Mandatory Credit: Mike De Sisti-USA TODAY Photo: Mike De Sisti-USA TODAY via IMGAN
June Rose, a transgender and nonbinary delegate to the Democratic National Convention (DNC) is one of 36 nationwide delegates who remain uncommitted to the party’s presidential nominee, Kamala Harris.
Rose, a 29-year-old from Rhode Island, is one of several delegates withholding their support of Harris in protest of the Biden administration’s support of Israel. Israel has continued its assault on Gaza and its noncombatant civilians in the aftermath of Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023. Hamas’ attack which killed over 1200 people and left nearly 200 abducted as hostages.
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“My horror for the Hamas attack on October 7 is not in contradiction for the genocide that is still being perpetrated against the people of Palestine,” Rose told The Rhode Island Current in July, before Biden stepped away from his campaign and Harris clinched the nomination.
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Rose’s goal is to persuade some of the 3,900 other delegates to pressure Harris into a leveraging the United States’ influence to help end the Israel-Hamas war. Rose says their work on political campaigns and in the byzantine bureaucracies that make government work has helped prepare them for the fight.
“I have never found it a challenge or a moral difficulty to cry for two people,” Rose said of their sympathy for the both Palestinians and Israelis. “My job has always been about outcomes, about winning. Here, winning means fewer Palestinian children are killed. There would be no greater victory than helping save the lives of Palestinian children living under occupation.”
Rose declined to discuss their tactics to make that happen, but said they’ve been in touch with other uncommitted delegates ahead of the convention in virtual strategy sessions.
“For a long time, I’ve heard anxiety that I am going to help elect Trump” by protesting the Biden administration’s policy. “Now the wind under the sails of that criticism is totally gone.”
Rose said they know many “delegates across the country who have extreme anxiety about our situation, and I hope to encourage them to use their voices.”
“I am not going as a rabble-rouser or to make a scene,” Rose said of their role at the convention. “My goal is to make a difference. If we have real seats at the table as decisions are made about our party’s posture toward the war in Gaza, that’s it.”
Rose pointed to the Rhode Island primary in April when the Biden-Harris ticket was rebuffed by 29% of “uncommitted” Democratic voters.
“Symbolically, I think that 29% of voters say ‘Joe Biden does not speak for us’ on this issue is extremely significant,” Rose said.
Rose spent a post-graduation year in Israel to study rabbinic texts. During Passover break, they crossed the border into Palestine with an educational tour program. The two days they spent in Palestine changed the course of their entire world, they said.
“For me, it changed everything, not only on the issues of Israel and Palestine, but also my politics, my relationship with my community and with myself,” they said.
The neighborhoods in Gaza, many of which have now been reduced to rubble, were a 10-minute drive from where Rose lived. These days, Rose considers the 15,000 children in Gaza who have been killed since the war began. The neighborhoods and children remind Rose of those in Providence.
Despite their strong feelings on the ongoing conflict, Rose said they’re not in Chicago to be a spoiler.
“I am in this role to represent the freedom and justice for Palestine movement,” they said.
“This is about winning the presidency,” Rose added. “In order to win in November, the Democratic nominee needs to take a bold stance on ending the war. There is a role for us as uncommitted delegates before the nomination, during the nomination and after the nomination.”
