“When I See Them I See Us” is the newest catch phrase of Black Lives Matter and Pro-Palestinian activists. So what on earth do these two movements have in common?
In a video released just today, African American and Palestinian activists answered that question. “What do Gaza and Ferguson have to do with one another? If you ask the black and Palestinian artists and activists who just released a new solidarity video, a lot … Harass, beaten, torture, dehumanized, stopped and frisked…” and the list goes on and on. In a nutshell, self-proclaimed victimhood.
The solidarity video is aimed at drawing comparisons between the events in Ferguson, MO. and Palestine and the struggles that blacks and Palestinians face. Noura Erakat, the video’s leading producer, came up with the idea back in 2014 “when Gaza was being bombed and Ferguson erupted in protests after the police killing of Michael Brown.”
The video also happens to feature anti-Israeli celebrity lefties such as Danny Glover, Cornel West, Alice Walker, and Lauryn Hill. According to Aljazeera, “The video’s release comes amid growing ties between the Black Lives Matter movement and Palestinian activists. In 2014, a contingent of Palestinian activists joined protests against police brutality in Ferguson, Missouri.”
The issue isn’t so much the cause — we have seen this all before, but rather the insensitive and irresponsible timing of the video’s release that is the problem. The activist video proclaiming the two groups need to “fight for their freedom” comes amidst the bloodshed and unrest that is taking place in Israel because of Palestinian attacks.
Just yesterday the Washington Post reported on the violent Palestinian attacks happening in Jerusalem:
“Three Israelis were killed and nearly two dozen injured in a series of Palestinian attacks Tuesday...”
“Almost two weeks of daily violence, including a spate of attacks by knife-wielding Palestinian teenagers, has left Israelis deeply shaken and fearful of another sustained Palestinian uprising.”
“…Palestinians used knives, a car, a gun and a meat cleaver to kill and injure Jewish Israelis.”
“In the most serious attack Tuesday, two Palestinian assailants boarded a bus in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Armon Hanatziv and began shooting and stabbing passengers, Israeli police said. Medics and police reported that two Israelis were killed and 16 wounded, several seriously.”
The New York Times also reported yesterday on the growing violent outbreaks. One picture depicted “Emergency workers inspecting the body of one of the two Israelis who was killed Tuesday in an attack by two Palestinians on a public bus in Jerusalem.”
But the Black Lives Matter and pro-Palestinian groups have chosen to ignore this large detail. Erakat told Al Jazeera the following:
“Here were two groups of people dealing with completely different historical trajectories, but both which resulted in a process of dehumanization that criminalized them and that subject their bodies as expendable,” Erakat said. “Not only were their lives more vulnerable and disposable, but that even in their death, they were blamed for their own death.”
Apparently the slain Israeli lives were not vulnerable, dehumanized, or less disposable when Palestinians launched terror attacks on them. Erakat also conveniently fails to explain that back in 2014 Israel was being bombed by Hamas terror groups in Gaza or that the media completely spun and even falsely reported on the Michael Brown controversy.
The ill-timed release of this radical video is a strong indicator of a startling and rapid anti-Israel mentality that is sweeping our generation. In reference to the video Erakat commented, “[i]t’s really affirming the idea that none of us are free unless all of us are free.” Of course, those that are killed in terror attacks aren’t exactly free either.
