The Makings of a New World

Ezekiel saw de wheel
way up in the middle of the air
the big wheel run by faith
the little wheel ran by the grace of God 
the wheel yes the wheel
way in the middle of the air

The song is quoted because the painting depicts how the big wheel—our world—runs by faith: the direction of our hearts and souls of the people of the world. The little wheel, meanwhile—“ran by the grace of God”—is dedicated to the people of the same moral fiber of Martin Luther King Jr., who deserve a roll call.

Portrayed from left to right are:

• Top row, Refaat Alareer, James Baldwin, Gamal Nasser, Muammar Gaddafi, Winnie Mandela, Bisan Owda, Martin Luther King Jr., Yasser Arafat, and Khaled Nabhan.
• Second row, Wael Al-Dahdouh, Coretta Scott King, and Seyed Nasrullah (slightly below).
• Below the hand holding the date, Billie Holiday and the young women reporters of Palestine—Lama Jamous and Nadin Abdullatif—, a Palestinian girl who got sniped in her father’s arms, a Palestinian girl who talked about death making her ugly, and Hussam Al-Attar (called Gaza’s Isaac Newton, to the left).

This painting has been an emotional and spiritual overhaul of what has been happening to the Palestinian people for the past 164 days, from Oct 7th, 2023 until March 26th, 2024. It is a painting for peace. It is a painting to report on the pain and suffering of the Palestinian people, who are being buried alive, raped, starved, and drawn from their homes in a strangled noose where all they face is the unending sky and sea.

I would have never thought of the day where my government, my country, my city would make me feel unsafe, even though they have already been slowly killing Black boys, girls, men, and women, in the ghettos from North through South, co-signed by the city police departments and new apartment leases. But I had felt safe because I have faith in the moral principle where you treat people how you want to be treated, and karma comes around when it needs to put you in your place. 

Yet, what happens to Americans in some ways is exactly how the Palestinians are being treated. The crisis of the ruling elite shows through the crisis of neocolonialism. The one thing the war-mongering ruling hasn’t killed is the Palestinians’ will: the morale of the people.

There was a photo shown where a man who died under the rubble was holding onto a date, which then sprouted because of the ecology of his dead and dying hand. This is where the little wheel begins: out of death will there be a new, aching, clawing birth—searching for the light of a new day, a day where the people can go one step ahead towards peace, for all men. 

This painting articulates a vision for real human freedom, democracy, and the fulfillment of a world prophecy of peace.

This America begins its first steps towards freedom and democracy with W.E.B. Du Bois, and makes its first journey with Martin Luther King’s vision of a new human being. If there is one thing that the Palestinians have shown us, it is how love is the most essential characteristic of a new epoch, a new time, and all of us.