#NotYourAbeed

It took a Kamala Harris presidential candidacy for non-Jewish Black Americans to experience what Black Jews have been facing for years. The anti-Israel crowd that pretends to be pro-Palestinian is fundamentally anti-Black. 

In recent years what has been routinely ignored is finally being exposed. The Arab supremacist movement has always trafficked in anti-Blackness. I suspect a few reasons for the willful ignorance. The entire idea of ‘third-world liberation’ relies on people pretending that third-world unity exists, ignoring the historical conflicts that erupt within the third-world. The idea of some sort of global-south utopia is a favorite amongst the Jew-hating crowd. This lie allows them to move forward with ideas of disrupting settler-colonialism, erasing the violent instances of Arab settler-colonialism. It allows for Islam to be portrayed as an indigenous African religion, erasing the African victims of Islamic conquistadors. Third-world unity is a myth. Wars fought between nations in the global-south are not due to Western influence, but caused by the very real conflicts that exist amongst the diverse peoples of the developing world. No outside influence necessary. 

Ever since Ferguson, the anti-Jewish activists have feigned solidarity between Black folks and “Palestinians”. This is probably one reason why so many Black icons have been portrayed in keffiyehs and other required performative dressings. A most recent depiction of George Floyd was painted by Walid Ayyoub as a “solidarity mural”, ignoring the fact that Floyd was racially profiled in a Palestinian owned store by an employee who was “following protocol”. Perhaps in different times this would be seen as the cultural appropriation that it is, attempting to benefit off of Black pain. 

Screenshot; used in accordance with Clause 27a

Screenshot; used in accordance with Clause 27a

And now, the anti-Jewish crowd is demanding Black submission, attempting to shame Black Americans into not supporting VP Harris’ campaign for the presidency. Black Jews are used to being called slurs from the pro-Hamas crowd simply because we express our pride in our heritage. In fact, many of us experience far more anti-Blackness from anti-Jewish progressives than we do from the far-right extremists that we’re always warned about. As many Black Americans get behind Harris’ campaign, they are being targeted by the same radicals who have been shutting down streets and highways, disrupting campuses and Thanksgiving parades, blocking Jewish students from classes and defacing synagogues. 

Screenshot; used in accordance with Clause 27a

Finally, the curtain has been pulled back and non-Jewish Black folks can see that this movement (if we can even call it that) has never been about solidarity with Black people. There has always been one goal and that is to force everyone to submit to the will of the I405 blocking, encampment dwelling, no-job-going, keffiyeh clad crowd who have nothing better to do than make everyone else’s lives as miserable as theirs. And to that crowd, I say #NotYourAbeed.