Did you notice? Liberals didn’t bother to condemn the new Israeli apartheid law. Nor did they say a word about that settler-colonial state’s recent attacks on Gaza.
We must be clear racist settler-colonial assault happening anywhere affects oppressed folks everywhere. Israelis have been training police forces in every state of the United States on their brutal methods of suppression they have practiced on the long-suffering Palestinians.
The increased militarization of U.S. society makes allowances for white violence on oppressed peoples on this stolen land. Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, already notorious for protecting George Zimmerman when he killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, is now shielding another white supremacist who has a history of harassment.
Washington, D.C.-based BAP member organization Pan-African Community Action (PACA) advocates for community control of the police, which would allow people to protect their communities without involving the racist state and their goons. “The issue is not training, but the policies of the police as determined by the government that takes its cues from the ruling class,” said BAP Coordinating Committee member Netfa Freeman, who works with PACA. He was quoted at a recent meeting where residents grilled their elected officials.
Of course, the militarization of U.S. society inevitably reflects in U.S. imperialism abroad, including in Central America.
Another way the ruling class has suppressed revolutionary fervor on this stolen land has been through oppressed peoples’ need to identify with their oppressor, a type of Stockholm Syndrome happening right here in real time. BAP Coordinating Committee member Margaret Kimberley connects respectability politics to the latest odd collaboration between Black folks and the Democratic Party: “We must acknowledge that despite 400 years of existence here we will never be considered full citizens. There is no ‘we’ or ‘us’ when we discuss the individuals and entities who run this country.”
BAP National Organizer Ajamu Baraka recalls how the most powerful unelected elements in the state had long ago moved to take down a president, and wonders why it wouldn’t happen again today.
Among the many insights Ajamu made on “A Trump Show”, a podcast by Dennis Trainor, Jr., include the foolish collaboration between leftists and liberals, making all so-called radicals a “suspicious class.”
The breakdown in U.S. society and the collaboration between leftists and liberals continues to disturb many of us who have been analyzing the repressive nature of the U.S. empire. It is all the more reason to intensify our efforts to build the alliance as a critical formation in the new anti-war movement. As we move toward our first membership meeting in September, please help us raise the $10,000 we need to pull it off. Only you can help rebuild this movement.
The Black Is Back Coalition will hold its annual conference in Saint Louis, August 11-12. BAP is a member of this coalition and we encourage everyone to attend.
Consider attending the Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases’ is hosting the First Annual International Conference Against U.S./NATO Military Bases in November in Dublin, Ireland.
No compromise.
No retreat.
Struggle to win,
Ajamu, Ana, Jaribu, Kali, Lamont, Lukata, Margaret, Netfa, Paul, Vanessa and Yolande
Coordinating Committee
Black Alliance for Peace
P.S. Help us rebuild the Black anti-war movement in the tradition of Black internationalism by contributing today.
Photo credit: Mahmud Hams / AFP / Getty Images