By: Kevin Sullivan

South Florida CODEPINK's planned protest of Representative Brian Mast at his Stuart, Florida office on Monday, April 23, turned into an encounter with the genocide-supporting elected official. At 11 AM, Mast was sitting in front of his office. It wasn't clear then, but he was waiting for us. Several people were running late, so we decided to stay at the park until they arrived. Matt had a meeting he had to leave for, so he had his driver bring him to the park. He first said, "Your flyer said that you were going to be at my office at 11, and I've been waiting for you". 

Had we gotten there on time, it would have been a great photo op for "mast the warrior" to be seen singlehandedly confronting a group of Pro-Palestinian protesters with his office as a backdrop. Instead, we deprived him of that opportunity. To his credit, he did talk with us for about 10 minutes (with several law enforcement officers nearby). I asked him if he'd looked at the two books on Palestine I'd sent him after our March Zoom call. He said he hadn't seen them yet but would send me one from Israel that he references. I can't wait. 

But for all Rep. Mast did say to us it is what he didn't say that spoke the loudest. 

Mast is an evangelical Christian and claims to follow the teachings of Christ, while voting to send billions of US dollars of aid to Israel, funding weapons that have killed and maimed almost 40,000 civilians. Over half of the victims are defenseless children 15 years of age and under. He also single-handedly advocated to dismantle UNRWA, the main source of international aid setup for Palestinian refugees since 1948. He claims to be a proud American citizen and boasts putting America first. Yet, instead of utilizing our tax dollars towards universal healthcare and affordable housing, a challenge several of his constituents in south Florida are currently facing, he’d rather send our money to bomb kids instead. When pressed on these issues - he has nothing to offer. 

There was a heavy police presence for the entire time. A Stuart ordinance states that "sound amplification devices" aren't allowed at public gatherings without a permit. We decided to ignore it, and so did law enforcement. As far as we know, there were no direct interactions with them. 

We had six English-speaking Palestinians there who spoke to the group. We'd chant for several minutes, and then each of them talked about their personal experiences and commitment to a Free Palestine. The perspectives and passion that they shared were incredible. 

The people who led the chants (some also spoke) brought amazing energy to the action. Downtown Stuart has never seen or heard anything like it. 

We had two agitators. One, who appeared to have started a happy hour before noon, stood in the street and wagged her butt at us, and called us names. The other was a school administrator who had made a small pro-Israel sign. He started out being extremely argumentative. When he'd finished talking to some of our Palestinian friends, he conceded that he respected our position. However, he still didn't agree with it.  

Bottom line: This was a win. Huge thanks to everyone who made it happen!