Last week, hundreds of Kentuckians gathered in Louisville to join millions across the world in marking one year of genocide in Gaza. For over a year, at least 40,000 Palestinians have been brutally murdered by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), according to the United Nations and what the Gaza Health Ministry has been able to count in its war-torn state.

And these are just the numbers that can be counted. There is reason to suspect they fall far below the true extent of the damage inflicted by the Israeli government. The Lancet, a two-century-old medical journal, estimates the death count in Gaza to be over 186,000.

That is over 500 Palestinians a day.

All this to say – Israel continues to perpetuate genocide every day in Gaza. What’s worse is that our own tax dollars are funding this genocide.

Since Oct. 7, 2024, our government has sent Israel $17.9 billion in “security assistance for Israeli military operations in Gaza,” according to Brown University’s Costs of War Project. Every day our tax dollars are spent on demolishing Palestinian homes, hospitals and schools, bombarding centuries-old churches and mosques and wiping out entire Palestinian bloodlines.

It does not have to be like this. I refuse to be complicit in genocide.

Why is it that while our communities experience steep poverty and crumbling infrastructure, our tax dollars are being shipped in billions to facilitate endless violence in Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and beyond. It is because both major parties do not prioritize us American people, but the interests of their sponsors, such as AIPAC.

The U.S. support for genocide is a bipartisan affair—it is not just the Democratic Party, and it is not just the Republican Party. Neither are the lesser of two evils. One says they’re “doing their best to eliminate the threat that is Hamas.” The other replies, “The blood of the hostages is on your hands, you aren’t doing enough.” Both parties still work hand in hand to send as many resources to Israel as fast as possible. Some party members may dissent, but the words of a few cannot overcome the actions of the many.

It is only by breaking free from the confines of the two-party system that can we put an end to the genocide in Palestine and ongoing oppression, both internationally and within our own country.

Out of the available third party candidates that promise to stop the genocide, Dr. Jill Stein and Rudolph Ware of the Green Party have the most ballot access, the most media coverage and the most momentum already behind them. This is why most who choose to vote third-party, endorse Stein.

The Green Party promises the critical things that the two-party system does not: first and foremost, an end to the genocide in Palestine, a focus on mending the wounds inflicted on our planet by fossil fuels, a drive to protect our most vulnerable and fixing the systems that have let our politicians get so far from us in the first place.

Stein has a long legacy of fighting environmental racism and environmental injustice, and has won victories redistricting in a racially just manner and reforming campaign finance. 

Her running partner Ware has a decades-long legacy of researching and teaching about empire, colonialism and genocide and has put that scholarship to use in response to the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the murder of George Floyd in 2020. 

Their extensive history of standing against racism and genocide assures us that they will follow through on their words with meaningful action, in contrast to the pitiful best the two parties have to offer; vapid calls for a ceasefire immediately preceding another package of billions of dollars to Israel.

As a Kentuckian, I know that we are not a swing state, and that the Republicans’ victory is likely already decided. But there’s another smaller yet still important goal to reach – 5% of the national popular vote. If a party reaches this benchmark, they are given access to the Presidential Election Campaign Fund, media coverage and viability as a third party, opening the doors to a multi-party system for all. The fight is not just about 2024, it is about 2028 and 2032 and all of the years in between and afterward.

This approach isn’t just a protest vote, it’s a vote for the American people. We deserve more than being confined to choosing between two evils. We need elected officials who prioritize the needs of the people they serve, not the interests of those who fill their pockets.

For that reason, I will be voting for Dr. Jill Stein on Nov. 5. Above all else, a vote for Stein is a vote against genocide. It is the only effective vote against genocide in this election.