President Donald Trump has already done good things with many of his horrifying campaign promises, more than a month after his second term. He ordered massive deportation of immigrants and asylum seekers. Cancelled Federal Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Program. Cut funding for underprivileged black and Latino communities. He then pledged to expel foreigners in legal settlements that participated in the pro-Palestinian protests.
If we survive for the next four years, it is clear that every striped minority and oppressed must build a solidarity network to stand together and resist. To do so effectively, open issues must be addressed that can undermine solidarity among the community. I can’t say I care about women’s rights, public health, racial equality, education, or allowing liberals to continue the massive genocide.
The 2024 election took place in the shadow of Israel’s genocide campaign against the Palestinian people. Despite the efforts of Democrats to obfuscate and manipulate the issue, they simply couldn’t hope for the horrifying images coming out of the Gaza Strip and the banks of the Jordan River.
They faced mass mobilization of people on the streets, primary elections and university campuses, calling for urgent action to stop Israel. Democrats targeted the cross-sectional coalition formed to support Gaza amid a hopeless attempt to distract them from the legitimate criticism they receive to promote genocide.
In particular, the Democrats have tried to disband black Palestinian solidarity. One way they hoped to do so was to frame pro-Palestinian protesters as single issue voters. They argued that the Palestinian and Arab communities and their allies are solely invested in the Palestinian struggle for freedom and that they do not care about the struggles of minority groups here in the US.
Democrats stressed that what was happening in Gaza was an external issue that only concerns a particular group of voters. The idea was to convince blacks, as did women, LGBTQ and other underprivileged groups, to convince them that solidarity with Palestine was pointless and that their interests lie with Democrats, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Usually, I ask: What is genocide, especially when I’m faced with the topic of “single problem” in Callus? I can’t say I care about women’s rights, public health, racial equality, education, or allowing liberals to continue the massive genocide.
If someone is okay with one group of extinctions, why are they willing to approve of others’ extinctions when the time comes?
It gives us a glimpse into how unsafe the commitment to the rights of the Democrats and their liberal supporters is the underprivileged group.
The topic of “single issue voters” was not the only one armed to undermine solidarity among Black Palestinians. Historic mobilization at university and university campuses across the country was also attacked. The liberal media sought to portray pro-Palestinian behaviorism not only as “anti-Semitism,” but also as a bourgeoisie pet project.
The media decided to exclude it from the story, as mobilised was also carried out at public universities and state schools, where black and brown students were overwhelmingly involved. The fact that students of color faced the brunt of police violence and criminal prosecution was also conveniently omitted from public conversation.
In parallel, Democrats also made some of their colour members an unacceptable attitude towards Gaza. Biden’s UN ambassador, Linda Thomas Greenfield, was instructed to overthrow the ceasefire resolution after the ceasefire resolution and repeat the mantra on Israel’s “right of self-defense.” White House Press Secretary Carine Jean Pierre had to avoid all questions about the Palestinians during the Prestar. Vice President Harris himself was tasked with “accepting” the humanity and suffering of the Palestinian people, and the Biden administration continued to approve the sale of arms to Israel.
Democrats used blackness as a shield against criticism and did so under the guise of diversity. Naturally, whenever a black or brown member of the party spoke out, his outfit was dropped. In those cases, Democrats demonized them and did everything they could to stand by. Congress member Kori Bush faces an unprecedented mass spending campaign by AIPAC, and none of the Democratic leaders came to her defense to drive her away in the primary.
Nevertheless, the topical points worked and could penetrate even an otherwise progressive space. A good example was an online conversation between content creators Tori Grier and Tiktoker Maya Abdallah in August.
Tori, as a black woman, insisted on voting for Harris and outlined her very real fear of President No. 2, but Maya justly pointed out that the Democratic candidates have refused to stop promoting genocide. A fierce debate fallout between the two has spread online as some social media users have abandoned solidarity. This is exactly where the political elite wanted us.
When Democrats courted the black community, they made no effort to speak to Arab Americans or other pro-Palestinian groups. And even black “courtivities” Democrats still managed to be as sleazy as possible, eliciting tired racist looting that “black men become more conservative.”
I think this strategy and the dishonest framing of party genocide and minority rights have led us to a dream of the heat of fascism, the Trump presidency.
Many Arab Americans, like members of other minority groups, voted for Trump. As a black person, I would not have tried to persuade these people to vote for “less evil” while my family was being eradicated in Gaza.
Others in the black community feel differently. The small but vocal terms of black people on the internet have opposed Israeli boycotts, claiming they should stop “buy Starbucks” and support Palestinian causes. This was primarily a social media phenomenon, but the real life impact lies there. Speaking to members of my community may not be aware of much of what is happening overseas, but there are the same few story points. “Is this conflict thousands of years ago?” “Israel is defending itself.”
The truth is that this is not the first time the black community has split into Palestine and Israel. Remember the clash between iconic black writer Audre Lorde and fellow black feminist June Jordan. In the early 1980s, Jordan opened up criticising Israel’s invasion of Lebanon and openly criticised the “purpose of the Palestinian genocide.” Lord refused this stance. She understood the way the US used black people both inside and outside the country, but was unable to link it to the Palestinian struggles like Jordan. This fracture has degraded their relationship.
Although there is a continuing disagreement within the Black community today, my belief is that ultimately the contradictions that exist in Democrats’ advocacy are becoming increasingly uncontrollable. The way Democrats use platforms to manipulate narratives is not to increase political participation from black people, as Republicans have their foundations, but to disrupt.
For those still open to discussion about the Palestinian movement, I recommend asking what Democrats have done to win their loyalty.
This is the party that decided to send leadership to take photos to kneel in Kent cloth in response to George Floyd’s police murder in the summer of 2020, but spent $17.4 billion to fund police two years later. This is also a party where members and associated talking heads put a lot of effort into demonizing the movements of black life issues and stealing all the general momentum from it.
Recently, Democrats have gone out of their way to advance the highly unpopular “Cops City” project in Atlanta. The city, famously run by wealthy Black Democrats, has taken harsh steps to ensure that all resistance from members of the black community was crushed by this police training campus project.
Also, let’s remember that Trump is all the bits of monster Democrats he claims he is, but they themselves claim it’s okay with him. That’s because for years, democratic elites have relied on many spinning villains to ensure that their more progressive promises do not fill their bases. With this strategy in mind, from 2015 to 2016, they supported Trump in the Republican primary and believed he would be the easiest candidate.
In this context, the insinuation that Democrats, or Republicans, have in mind the greatest interests of the country’s black population, is not just a shame, but a dangerous one. For both these parties, black and Palestinian life is rarely a concern. They are only important when it is politically and financially convenient.
Many black Americans like me see similarities between the historical ways in which our people have been harmed and what is happening in Palestine. The brutal Palestinian apartheid and genocide are directly linked to the mass murder and conquest of black people here in America. Much of what we say in our community has reasons to resonate with the Palestinian people, and vice versa. Our mere existence is a threat to the status quo.
I saw this perception spread among my peers and we all saw it in the Super Bowl. Black performer Zulu Calnain Nantumbu raised the Sudan and Palestinian flags on stage at the halftime show.
The past 16 months of Gaza’s genocide has brought close ties between the US military industrial complex and the Israeli occupation forces, both between the US Army and Israeli occupation forces, to the forefront.
With Trump and his cohort of extremists of white nationalists, already unleashing police and other security agencies into vulnerable communities, we – black and brown people, LGBTQ and pro-Palestinian activists – face the same threat, the same source of attack.
Our power lies in unity resistance. You must stand together to defeat the established order.
The views expressed in this article are the authors themselves and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.