This October 7 marks a critical crossroads in history. Two years later, the violence has not only escalated abroad, but reached us here at home in the form of an unprecedented assault on our most basic right: the right to speak.
Charlie Kirk — a literal white supremacist — was assassinated only several weeks ago, yet it’s regressed us into the state-sponsored enforcement of his mourning with digital pitchforks mobbing anyone that dare react differently. Hundreds of civilians from around the globe are still locked within the dungeons of Israeli military prisons for daring to do what world leaders failed to: deliver aid to a starved population facing extermination. Entire media empires — both traditional and digital — are being gutted by censorship. And, apparently, not even rich white men like Jimmy Fallon are safe.
Young people see through the bullshit — and we’re laughing our asses off that they really think they can shut us up.
Muslim Girl has either lost or rejected significant amounts of funding for refusing to compromise our values. And we’re not alone: in the past 24 months, we’ve seen Palestinian voices erased, our allies punished, students criminalized, workers fired, and the truth itself put on trial. Social media companies — the new public square of our generation — have caved under political pressure, with algorithms censoring people, movements and even the evidence that history will one day indict. In our very own United States of America, the world’s supposed champion of free speech, we have learned once again that ours is not guaranteed. It is conditional, it is weaponized, and it is always the first right to be stripped away.
But here’s the beautiful paradox: the louder they try to silence us, the more powerful our voices have become. Across campuses, industries, and cities around the world, we are watching a generation refuse to be intimidated into silence. Young people see through the bullshit — and we’re laughing our asses off that they really think they can shut us up.
History will remember that in the face of censorship, intimidation, and erasure, we did not back down. We talked back even louder.
And in just a few weeks, we face the next inflection point: the New York City mayoral elections. Zohran Mamdani’s fight out of Queens is bigger than just one American city or state. The entire world is watching. His race is a rejection of capitalism swallowing politics whole and a litmus test for whether one of the most globally punched-down minorities will finally claim the political power to punch back. It will signal whether the movement we’ve been building can overpower the legacy of today’s repression. We owe it to our communities, our country and the world to deliver a strong answer.
This anniversary isn’t just about remembrance. It is a call to action. We no longer (and possibly never?) had the privilege of silence. We’re fighting for far more than free speech — we’re fighting for survival, for dignity, for the right to tell our own stories.
And history will remember that in the face of censorship, intimidation, and erasure, we did not back down. We talked back even louder.
