Free Palestine!: The Importance of Interracial Solidarity

"The Soiling of Old Glory"

Our nation is quickly descending into a fascist state. There are people starving in Gaza. America is funding an on going genocide abroad, and building it's own gestapo/SS domestically. If you thought the Dozer Magazine wasn't political, you thought wrong my friends. We are living through times we read about when we were children. Horrific events like the Holocaust and the Jim Crow era. Now that they've come to light in our lifetime, we're seeing people who once swore they'd be on the right side of history ultimately antagonize the marginalized. Not everyone understands that they're living through history as it's happening, but when we move forward and these bigots want to camouflage themselves as progressive we will remember. There's so much division in our country, we can't pick neutrality in the face of abject brutality.

For a while now I've noticed a sub-sect of black people claiming that the hardships of immigrants and Palestinians isn't "our fight". There are non-black people reading this blog so I’ll choose my words carefully, but you know the C word I want to call you. Anyway, some people seem to have forgotten that we’re still being oppressed! Ironically when you ignore the issues of other marginalized people it gives you a false sense of safety. I think these people feel like the script has flipped and America no longer has an agenda for us. What does it say about you and your willingness to turn a blind eye when another group is facing biblical levels of torment? Lifting your nose and acting like it isn’t your problem is the trait of an oppressor. The justification for this response is centered around the perception of other races failing to defend black people in our many hours of need. While that may be true in part, it's imperative to understand the power of interracial solidarity in the face of systemic division.

Fred Hampton

Believe it or not unity and solidarity have been accomplished plenty of times in our nation. We've seen successful organizational efforts from The Black Panther Party, Kwame Ture, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, the list goes on. However, the common denominator between all parties were the tactics used to divide and ultimately destroy them. Tactics mustered up by the FBI like introducing crack to the Black community, waging psychological warfare, or implanting informants to gain intel and implode the group from within. Fred Hampton comes to mind as an unfortunate example to highlight.

By the age of 21 Fred Hampton was a chairman of The Black Panther Party in Chicago, and the founder of the Rainbow Coalition. An organization that united the Black Panther Party, the Young Patriots, and the Young Lords. Made up of Panthers, working class white people, and gang members, the Rainbow Coalition found common ground in class solidarity in understanding that they weren't each others enemy. The FBI caught wind of Fred's progression and sent an informant named Bill O'Neal to infiltrate the party and eventually poison and kill Fred Hampton at the young age of 21.

Solidarity is one of the only ways to move forward. People always preach about wanting everyone to get along, but it's way deeper than that. We need an intimate understanding of each others plights. We need to empathize so much we weep at the thought of fighting for a common goal. When we peel it back a little the parallels between the Palestinian plight and the future and past of the Black plight are identical.

Photo by Majdi Mohammed

The Palestinian people should be viewed as champions of liberation. They're being persecuted and starved by the Israeli government for firmly revolting against their oppressors. The example they're setting is beyond brave, it's beyond courageous. I feel that anyone who views their efforts and finds a way to villify them is an immediate enemy to any liberation effort. Many would make the arguement that they're only in support for Black liberation or where ever they plant their flag. I find it hard to believe that someone who can excuse the genocide of others can stand in true solidarity with their own race when shit hits the fan. Turning a would be activist into a Bill O'Neal when shit gets real.

The persecution Palestinians are facing is a mirror reflection of what Black people would face if we truly revolted at home. We have merely pushed the buttons of our government to this point, but if/when we decide to act fully, our government will unleash a force we’ve only ever seen them direct at marginalized people beyond our own borders. We are not safe. The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) has been training the police force in America for years now. They are responsable for teaching the knee the on neck technique that killed George Floyd in 2020. In other words, our government is being coached by the same government that's committing an active genocide. As Black people we need to be allies to others and seek out allies for our cause. At the end of the day, ignoring the cries of another marginalized group fighting for their freedom shows me that some of us aren’t truly interested in fighting for our own liberation. Comfort under oppression is often a prison, as things descend for the worst I'm sure more of us will try to break free.

Without interracial solidarity we have nothing. If you feel like others don't support your cause, meet them with support for their own and disect their hesitation to support yours; if you already know the answer you can likely change their mind in a resonable amount of time. Gone are the days of closeted planning from our government. Children are being starved in 4k and people are being snatched from their homes. Solidarity is the only answer.