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Four short little stories that tell great, big truths

Four short little stories that tell great, big truths

Last updated on: August 1, 2024 at 8:22 pm by Kathryn Shihadah

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Four short little stories that tell great, big truths 2024-08-01T20:22:15-04:00 Kathryn Shihadah

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Remember how Jesus used to single out individuals, especially marginalized individuals, for special blessing?

Remember the Samaritan woman, the bleeding woman, the Canaanite woman, the tax collector? Remember “let the little children come to me”? Remember how the heroes in his parables were a Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), a poor beggar covered with sores (Luke 16:19-31), a debtor (Luke 7:40-43), and a tax collector (Luke 18:9–14)?

Here are four short, true stories about marginalized people that tell big truths. Stories first, then we’ll talk about the truths.

PETRUSO

Petruso was a 24-year-old Ukrainian man with Down Syndrome. He and his family lived in the city of Mariupol. Petruso’s Down Syndrome was a severe case. He was heavy and had trouble walking. He could feed himself simple foods, but wore diapers that his mother changed for him.

When Mariupol came under attack by Russian troops on March 4th, the sounds of bombing terrified Petruso. Most of the neighborhood evacuated before the troops arrived, but Petruso and his family hunkered down. They knew how hard it would be to flee with Petruso, who hated to be in unfamiliar surroundings.

Russian soldiers with combat dogs went from house to house, expelling anyone they found. When they came to Petruso’s home, they ordered the family outside at gunpoint, but Petruso was paralyzed with fear, and stayed where he was on the couch. They sent in one of the dogs, which tore into his arm, then his chest.

The family was forced to leave the neighborhood without him, and asked the Red Cross to rescue him. But the Russian forces would not cooperate.

When they military finally withdrew from the neighborhood a week later, the family went back, fearful that Petruso had been taken away as a prisoner. Instead, they found him right where they’d left him, badly mauled, dead, and decomposing.

JAIME

Jaime was a 13-year-old Cuban-American boy living in Winter Haven, FL. On July 11th, while standing on a street corner with a group of boys, he allegedly kicked a soda can at a police vehicle while it sat at a stop sign. The can bounced unexpectedly and hit the passenger side front door. The officer later claimed the sound led him to believe Jaime had shot at the car, and he believed he was in danger.

The officer opened fire at Jaime through the window, hitting him in the abdomen, hand, leg, and pelvis. The driver then stepped out of the car and shot the boy as he lay injured on the ground, hitting him in the chest.

Jaime died twelve days later.

TYRELL

Tyrell is a thirty-seven-year-old African American man, living in St. Louis with a wife and six children. He worked as a butcher, but his passion was bodybuilding. Before the police raided his home last fall and hauled him off to prison, Tyrell weighed in at 240 pounds, all muscle.

To this day, he doesn’t know why he was arrested – in fact, he was never charged with a crime during his nine months behind bars.

Tyrell was released recently, weighing less than 120 pounds and barely able to walk. From his hospital bed, he told reporters he had been beaten severely, many times, tortured, and (obviously) starved. The prison conditions he described were horrific – crowded, filthy, and cruel.

When asked about Tyrell’s accusation, the St. Louis Correctional Facility released a statement: “All prisoners are detained according to the law. All basic rights required are fully applied by professionally trained prison guards…The prisoner was examined and treated medically by the facility’s finest doctors throughout his incarceration” – adding that he could file a complaint if he wished.

AUSTIN

Austin was thirteen when he got swept up in the Kentucky justice system. Back in 2015, he was hanging out with his fifteen-year-old cousin Roy, who decided he wanted to make some trouble. Roy led the way as they entered a rough neighborhood, and Roy attempted to stab someone on a crowded street. Roy was shot dead by a police officer, and someone from the crowd, assuming Austin was involved in the attack, ran him over with their car. He suffered internal injuries and skull fractures.

He was arrested and brutally interrogated – on video tape – without a lawyer or family member present.

He was tried as an adult at the age of fourteen, and although he was found not to have participated in the stabbing, he was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to twelve years in prison (the sentence was later reduced to 9 1/2 years).

Since entering the prison system, Austin has experienced tremendous abuse, and – probably related to the head injury and/or his brutal treatment – has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, psychosis, severe depression, and suicidal thoughts. He has spent long periods in solitary confinement, which has negatively impacted his already precarious mental health.

In prison, Austin has not received proper medical care or medications he needs. Most of all, he continues to be in an environment that is making his condition worse.

Austin’s family hope and pray that he will survive his sentence. What his life will be like post prison remains to be seen.

Now for the truths behind the stories:

Petruso, the man with Down Syndrome, is really Muhammed. He lived in Gaza City. All of the details in Petruso’s story are true of Muhammed.

Israel has admitted that, although the group of soldiers included a doctor, Muhammed was not treated after being mauled, but abandoned to die alone. Read his story here.

(If you feel less sympathy for Muhammed than for Petruso, ask yourself why.)

In the ten months since the war on Gaza began (and for years before that), the Israeli military has been committing war crimes and subjecting Palestinians to daily serious human rights abuses. A few of many examples are here, here, here, and here (not to mention genocide).

Jaime, the Cuban-American boy who was shot five times, is really Saif, and he lived in the village of Meithalun in the occupied Palestinian West Bank. Israeli soldiers claimed he had thrown stones at their armored vehicle, and shot him four times from the safety of the vehicle. When he was seriously injured and unable to move, one of them got out and shot him in the chest. Read his story here.

(If you feel less horrified about Saif’s experience than Jaime’s, dig in and find out the reason.)

Under Israeli law, a Palestinian can be sentenced up to 20 years for throwing stones (Israelis are not subject to this policy).

Tyrell, the African American bodybuilder, is really Muazzaz Abaya. He is from Bethlehem. He still doesn’t know why he was arrested and held in administrative detention for nine months. The quotes above are actual comments from the Israeli Prison Services in response to his allegations of torture. Read his story here or here.

(If you are bothered by what Tyrell went through, but not what Muazzaz went through, there is a reason. Ask yourself what it is.)

Israel is currently holding about 9,700 Palestinian prisoners in inhumane conditions where many are systematically tortured – 250 of them are children, 79 are women, and over 3,300 are administrative detainees – being held without charge or trial. Administrative detention is intended to be used only in “exceptional” circumstances, but Israel uses it widely. Read more here.

Austin, the young man with schizophrenia, is really Ahmad Manasra, a Palestinian from East Jerusalem. His cousin Hassan tried to stab an Israeli settler (settlers live illegally on Palestinian land), and was shot and killed by an Israeli police officer. Ahmad was run over and severely beaten by the crowd before he was arrested, hospitalized, and shackled to his bed.

Amnesty International and other international human rights groups have petitioned Israel for Ahmad’s release – to no avail. Read his story here or here or here. See a video of his brutal interrogation here (trigger warning).

(If Austin’s story breaks your heart, but Ahmad’s doesn’t, check your heart health.)

Although Israel is a party to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), it has a well-known track record for incarcerating and torturing children. Israel’s military has recently been added to the UN “blacklist” of countries that harm children in conflict.

Israeli law allows Palestinians (not Israelis) to be tried as adults at age fourteen. Ahmad was arrested at age thirteen, but the Israeli military court waited until he turned fourteen to try him.

Palestinians have for years been demonized for merely existing in their historic homeland. We – especially people of faith – need to recognize their humanity and their struggle.

As I recently wrote, I have for the time being washed my hands of Christians who refuse to engage with the issue of Palestine, and for now (at least until the end of this horrific war) I will be writing about the significance of what is going on “over there” from a global and historic perspective.

I’m here for anyone who cares to have an intelligent conversation about reality, instead of living in a silo of confirmation bias.

I invite you to subscribe to my newsletter. I write about the Palestine-Israel issue regularly, and other issues relevant to progressives or those considering becoming progressive. If you would like to comment on this post, please pop over to my Facebook page. All of my posts are there and open to constructive comment. I welcome your thoughts.

I also commend to you If Americans Knew (full disclosure: I am a writer and editor there), where you can get factual reporting on the Palestine-Israel issue. I can personally vouch for its accuracy.

If you are interested, here are some of my earlier posts on the Palestine issue:

Further reading on the Palestine-Israel issue:

Posts about my family in Gaza (in chronological order):

FEATURED IMAGE: by Karolina Grabowska via Unsplash

General Christian

About Kathryn Shihadah

I was raised as a conservative Christian, and was perfectly content to stay that way – until the day my stable, predictable world was rocked. A curtain was pulled back on conservative Christianity, and instead of ignoring the ugliness I saw, I confronted it. I began to ask questions I never thought I’d ask, and found answers I’d never expected. Old things began to fall away, and – behold! – the new me has come. What a gift to be a new, still-evolving creation. I found out that it’s better to look at the world through Progressive Lenses, with Grace-Colored Glasses. You can read more about the author here.

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