JACKSON, Miss.—Iranian American Delana Karimi-Tavakol and about a dozen other Mississippians held signs and chanted “Honk for justice” while protesting against the U.S.-Israeli bombing of Iran on the corner of Woodrow Wilson Avenue and North State Street in Jackson, Mississippi, on a sunny Thursday morning.
Karimi-Tavakol is a longtime resident of Jackson who was raised in the U.S., and both sides of her family are from Iran. She said she decided to join Mississippi for a Just World’s protest to share her concerns about protecting the land from which her “entire ancestral lineage” comes.
“I don’t want these people, or myself, to be sent abroad to be killed on my ancestral homelands for absolutely no good reason at all,” the protester told the Mississippi Free Press on March 5. “I don’t want Mississippians who are already constantly divested from—to have the money that should be invested in Mississippi’s schools, roads, health care, general dignity, and quality of life—I don’t want that money to be taken from them to be sent abroad to anywhere else. I want Americans to be free as much as I want Iranians to be free.”
U.S. and Israel Attack Iran Without Congressional Approval, Killing Thousands
In the early hours of Saturday, Feb. 28, a joint U.S.-Israeli strike force began an unprovoked bombing campaign of Iran, blanketing the country in missile fire. The surprise attack interrupted weeks of negotiations over Iran’s nuclear enrichment program.
As of March 12, the Human Rights Activists News Agency reports there have been at least 1,286 civilian casualties in the war, including at least 200 children. The service also estimates at least 3.1 million people have been temporarily displaced.
Within the first barrage of strikes, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was assassinated in his residence, ending his 36-year reign. Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, has been named his father’s successor.
Bombs also struck the Shajarah Tayyebeh school in Minab, killing at least 175—the majority of the victims being young girls between the ages of 7 and 12. An investigation by the New York Times found the U.S. was likely at fault for the school strike. Video footage shows what an expert group has identified as an American Tomahawk missile striking the location, while sources confirmed to the Associated Press that the school was likely hit because of outdated intelligence. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says an investigation has been opened into the matter.
Over the month of February, a series of high-level negotiations between the U.S. and Iran over the nation’s missile program and nuclear power technology unfolded in Oman and Switzerland, a process which appeared at first blush to show promise for an agreement between the two countries, in spite of the United States’ attacks on Iran last year intended to decapitate its nuclear program. Hopes for reconciliation between the two nations were dashed in the Feb. 28 attacks.
The U.S.-Israeli attacks constitute the most egregious violation of Congress’ Article I Constitutional authority to declare war since the Iraq War in 2003, continuing the executive branch’s failure to properly consult Congress to approve acts of war, ongoing since the end of World War II. Both the U.S. Senate and the House rejected a war powers resolution which would have demanded President Donald Trump consult Congress for approval before continuing the attacks on Iran.
‘Get Out of The Way’
If Congress is not going to stop the war, “then get out of the way,” Delana Karimi-Tavakol said.
“The people who are standing at this intersection right now are more powerful and more committed to the liberation of Americans than the majority of people who are in D.C. in Congress, sitting in their seats, in their suits, pontificating on who to point their fingers at,” she said. “If you don’t want to fight for our freedom, get out of the way.”
Before the war’s outbreak, massive protests by the Iranian people triggered a harsh government crackdown, killing thousands of protestors, though specific estimates vary.
Karimi-Tavakol’s family was displaced from Iran, currently controlled by the theocratic regime that emerged in 1979, so she said she is a major supporter and part of the people of Iran’s fight for “liberation and return.” She noted that she was so proud of the Mississippians who protested to raise awareness on behalf of Iranians, adding that Mississippians are always an integral part in fighting for freedom.
Candace Abdul-Tawwab, co-founder and executive director of Mississippi for a Just World, said the organization is dedicated to bringing “attention to any type of oppression that is happening globally and within the nation and within the state.” MSJW has been protesting for the liberation of Palestinians and ending the Israeli genocide on the country for the past two years, she added.
She said her organization wants to directly “impact” local Mississippi communities when protesting, which is a reason why MSJW chose the busy intersection near the University of Mississippi Medical Center to hold its protest.
“We are continuing to see that same behavior of the U.S. government either funding or doing so-called U.S. intervention in other countries and claiming that they are pushing for democracy when our democracy is at risk here in the U.S.,” the cofounder told the Mississippi Free Press on March 5.