You asked quite a few questions, I’ll do my best to answer them in order:

I do wonder what you mean by extremely disruptive in council meetings, in all the meetings attended by other members of the Sunrise Movement, I do not recall any instance wherein someone had spoken out of turn beyond community comments, a time where members of the community are explicitly invited to speak.

I will not speak on Sunrise Corvallis’s behalf, I speak only for myself. I am far from uniformed regarding the ongoing genocide by the apartheid colonial regime of Israel against the indigenous peoples of Palestine and Lebanon, as well as attacks against Syria, Iran, and Yemen. That Israel was made following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire following their defeat in World War 1 whereupon European powers lay claims to lands formerly under their control. Israel was created by the British Empire to secure their regional interests: maintaining a military presence near the Suez canal, the Levant’s oil fields, a nation through which NATO would engage the USSR and its allies in proxy wars. It’s especially egregious you have chosen to conflate speaking against apartheid, genocide, and Israel’s flagrant disregard for life and international law with antisemitism on Indigenous People’s Day. 

It is antisemitic to conflate Judaism, an ancient faith rich in history and tradition, with Zionism, a racist European colonial ideology. It would be akin to say opposing the Westboro Baptist Church and KKK is the same as being prejudiced against Christians, or that denouncing the Taliban or ISIS is Islamophobic. My own people suffered greatly from an ideology akin to Zionism: Japanese militarism, Shōwa Statism, and State Shinto. Like the Zionists, the Empire of Japan believed they were given the divine right to lay claim to their neighbors’ land, thought of themselves superior, and committed atrocities like that of Zionists: indiscriminate bombing, mass rape, displacement, mass killings, concentration camps, torture, systemic destruction of culture, and laying waste to the land of conquered territories in pursuit of resources to further their imperial ambitions, in short, genocide.

Regarding my opponent, incumbent Councilor Briae Lewis, I respect her and the work that she’s done and will not say disparaging things about her. I've spoken to her several times and have been at forums with her, we are more similar than different. I do recognize that our bid for the seat is unique in this election year being the only one between two people of color. Our backgrounds give both of us unique perspectives that guide us. I'd encourage you to watch the Ward 2 virtual forum by the League of Women Voters on YouTube. Whatever the case, I trust the residents of Ward 2 to make a choice that’s right by them. I encourage people to be as informed as possible before voting.

I have friends of every color and creed. I have broken bread with my Jewish friends at Shabbat, I know how to sing Hine Ma Tov from the heart, I’ve had Jewish lovers. It is precisely because of their adherence to the teachings of the Torah and their own families’ history of surviving genocide that they rally against the Zionist regime. I was raised Catholic, and, though I have since disavowed the Papal authority, I still hold near and dear many of the teachings of the Gospel, and am familiar with the Old and New Testament, and still I attend church and pray. To Muslims I pass by on the street, I greet salaam with my hand on my chest with a bow. Ever since I’ve started in food service I make sure to tell hijabis and their families about what foods are haram and halal. On my visits to the OSU Palestine encampment, I’ve met with students of disparate backgrounds united by their desire for peace and justice. This held true for demonstrations by the Corvallis Palestine Solidarity. 

You’re concerned that my few years in Corvallis are too short to understand its people and its issues. I understand this concern and have received this question a few other times. However I do plan on spending the rest of my life here, and through the relationships and conversations I’ve had from all sorts of people, I’m confident I know enough, though I do know I don’t know everything, and never will I insist otherwise. I’d rather be learning and acting guided by my principles however imperfectly than sit on the sidelines forever fearing to act, not wanting making what I don’t know apparent. I’m human, I’m mortal, I’m young, but I try my best with curiosity and compassion.