Anthony Bourdain: Palestinians Have Been Robbed of their Basic Humanity

It is a measure I guess of how twisted and shallow our depiction of a people is that these images come as a shock to so many. The world has visited many terrible things on the Palestinian people, none more shameful than robbing them of their basic humanity….Anthony Bourdain

Chef and TV host Anthony Bourdain was awarded the Voices of Courage and Conscience in media award by the Muslim Public Affairs Council for the episode he did on Palestine on Parts Unknown, his new show on CNN.

In the episode he travels to the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem and the West Bank to explore and experience Palestinian cuisine.

One memorable moment during his trip to Hebron, he asks about the racist Israeli graffiti that was spray painted on a Palestinian home that said “Death to Arabs”.

In his acceptance speech for the award he says:

“I was enormously grateful for the response from Palestinians in particular for doing what seemed to me an ordinary thing, something we do all the time: show regular people doing everyday things, cooking and enjoying meals, playing with their children, talking about their lives, their hopes and dreams.

It is a measure I guess of how twisted and shallow our depiction of a people is that these images come as a shock to so many. The world has visited many terrible things on the Palestinian people, none more shameful than robbing them of their basic humanity.

People are not statistics. That is all we attempted to show. A small, pathetically small step towards understanding.”

Watch his acceptance speech for his award below:

Source: Existence is resistance