Anonymous submission to Unsalted Counter Info.
“26 mi: You are running the length of Gaza. 67,000+ KILLED. FREE PALESTINE.”
This morning, over 50,000 people participated in the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, a 26.2 mile race starting in the Loop, flanked and escorted by cops on all sides. Thousands of gratuitously patriotic fans lined downtown streets, holding signs, waving American flags (among other nations’ banners), and cheering loudly.
This pre-planned gridlock downtown fell days after the second anniversary of October 7th, 2023, marking two years of the ongoing US-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza, with a conservative under-count of over 67,000 Palestinians murdered to date. The run was ironically, unintentionally resonant—26 miles is also approximately the length of Gaza’s coastline.
Bank of America (B of A) sponsors and organizes the event, which carries a $250-260 registration fee. B of A is also a sponsor and accomplice to “Israel”‘s illegitimate colonial project and an active genocide financier.
It is one of seven major banks that has underwritten bonds for the Israeli government, over the course of the genocide, totaling in the billions of dollars. In 2023, B of A also participated in a $500 million loan deal for Elbit Systems, the Israeli weapons manufacturer building bombs that are being used to murder Palestinians—even as other major institutions around the world actually responded to “public pressure to stop investing in the company for its human rights violations.”
As ICE agents and national guard troops descend on the city, the spectacle of elite runners from across the world willingly gifting over $12M* to a genocide financier, escorted safely to the finish line by murderous CPD officers, leaves a bitter taste.
Fuck CPD, IOF, ICE, settler nation states, and their active and passive supporters. Resist distractions, spectacle, and complacency. Free Palestine, eyes on Gaza.
** $250/ person * 50,000 people = 12.5M