Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
As a Black Palestinian, I feel abandoned by many of the Black government officials who claim to support racial justice and human rights. The majority of Black government officials continue to reject moral clarity and humanitarianism in favor of cowardice, ethnic cleansing and genocide.
Fortunately, masses of Black people are taking to the streets in solidarity with Palestinians. Organizations like the Movement for Black Lives and Dream Defenders, which have been at the forefront of national mobilizations against state violence and other manifestations of anti-Black oppression, explicitly support the decolonization of Palestine and Palestinian human rights. National networks like Black For Palestine — Black activists supporting Palestinian justice, liberation, and self-determination — recently released a statement of Black Solidarity with Gaza that advocates for a permanent ceasefire.
While it is true that “not all skin folk are kinfolk,” complicit Black officials like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries ought to be particularly ashamed for their moral failure and dereliction of duty in support of Israel. These Black politicians are proving themselves to be nothing more than functionaries of a morally bankrupt and pro-genocidal U.S. state. With unwavering and ideologically incoherent support for white supremacy, police brutality and state-sanctioned terrorism, too often, Black officials neglect the spirit of our country’s racial justice movements. They are an affront to the legacies of civil rights legends and political groundbreakers…
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