The Commonalities Of Black Americans And Palestinians

Many grassroots BLM activists have "hit the streets" to express solidarity with the Palestinian people. They are not expressing support for Hamas or even Fatah but rather for the cause of Palestinians. These activists support the rights of these Arab people for self-determination. They see commonality of the worldwide struggle of colonialism, imperialism, exploitation, human rights abuses, and racial/religious stratification.

The history of Black American movement and the Palestinian suffrage movement is quite complex. Vast majority of the Black proponents of equality of all Americans actually supported the Zionist movement for all the Holocaust survivors. They equated the creation of Israel the same as the fleeing of Hebrew slaves from Egypt. Since Blacks in America were slaves themselves just 85 years earlier, it was only natural for them to relate to the promise of Zionism.

It was not until the 1950's when Black activists started to realize that they were mistaken about the true nature of the State Of Israel. Malcolm X started to deduce that the State Of Israel was only using all the dispossessed Jews to in turn create their own racist settler colony. He, the Black Panthers, and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (manned by Black College Students) saw this paradox for what it was and then championed the rights of all people in that region, particularly the Palestinians. Finally they saw that The State Of Israel was established to really be an "attack dog" for the CIA and intelligence/defense agencies of other Western nations.

The evolutionary process started 65 years ago. It has further intertwined the causes of Black Americans and Palestinians.