Against the Bombing of Iran: Under One Sky by Nana Kay
On June 22, 2025 (GMT+3:30) the Trump Administration utilized the United States Air Force and Navy to attack three Iranian nuclear facilities in an operation called "Midnight Hammer". Trump gave a short address after this strike at 10 pm EST (2:00 am GMT). Immediately after the televised statement, Trump posted on Truth Social in all caps saying that "Any retaliation by Iran against the United States of America will be met with force far greater than what was witnessed tonight."
In response to this operation, The Catalyst launched a flash submission campaign against the bombing of Iran and destruction of the SWANA region at large by the United States to begin publishing on July 4th. This deliberately coincided with the day the United States celebrates Independence Day—a federal holiday commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The included work in this campaign questions and disrupts the ideology of American Exceptionalism at the expense of Black and Brown lives globally.
No one is free until all of us are free.
Under One Sky
The sky is lit.
It's lit in silence,
over places where some sleep
under the stars,
but the gaze of many
goes no further than the roofs
overseeing streetlights and cars;
while the gaze of others,
goes no further past captivity
housed under concrete
fixed over metal bars.
It's lit with sound,
over places where many declare freedom
to cry out their thoughts and regards,
still rejoicing under fireworks
that coexist with places they let
bombs continue to leave their scars.
The sky is lit.
It's lit over vast terrain,
anchoring people, tales, and practices,
but we still divide the land by borders
spanning across hundreds of yards,
building terms that establish
what is "theirs" and "ours."
Many of us will never see
that we all live under one sky,
From birth until we die.
Nana Kay is your not-so-niche indie author known for an anthology of poetry and prose works that include publications of books and essays around the topics of sociopolitical discourse, philosophy, and storytelling.
“Under One Sky”, in its original formatting, can be viewed below.