Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
It is possible that watermelons are both a symbol of racism for Black people in America and a symbol of solidarity and empowerment for Palestinians. There is a story behind this.
It all came to light recently when the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America posted a flier targeting Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The flier featured a drawing of a watermelon with the message: “Make art outside Hakeem Jeffries’ Office.” The flier of a watermelon aimed at a Black lawmaker angered some in the Black community, and understandably so.
Black folks have a love-hate relationship with watermelon. Many of us love to eat the sweet and juicy fruit, but drawings and depictions of watermelon trigger us and make us feel some sort of way. Why is that? This wasn’t always the case.
Black people take offense to the watermelon imagery because of the role watermelon has played in our own racialized oppression, particularly since after the Civil War. Watermelon dates back to Africa, and while the racist imagery linking Black people with watermelons was present during enslavement, watermelon was first associated with Arab and Italian peasants in the early 19th century. In America, watermelons were a symbol of Black freedom and self-sufficiency when the formerly enslaved grew and sold them after emancipation. For the white supremacist power structure, this was a threat to the racial order and white power.
During Jim Crow, white people…
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