BLACK AMERICANS SILENT IN ISRAELI OPPRESSION AND MURDER OF PALESTINIANS IN GAZA – MSM MULTINATIONAL LIES DOMINATE

“Gaza and the Silence of Mainstream African-American NGO’s and Churches” Interview by Bill Fletcher, Jr., The Global African takes on the absence of condemnation for Israel’s attack on Gaza Production of Telesurtv.net/English August 11, 2014

Click for Source Article from both The Real News and Global African

Bill Fletcher, Jr. is executive assistant to the national vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees and the author of the newly released book, ‘They’re Bankrupting Us’ – And Twenty Other Myths about Unions.

FLETCHER: The brutal Israeli assault on Gaza, MURDER of 1,900+ Palestinians, and immense devastation of Palestinians’ lives. But most African-American churches + NAACP + Congressional Black Caucus + The National Urban League + Other mainstream black organizations = Refuse any public condemnation of Israel = ALL SILENT.

Martin Luther King: “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” = Ignored by black community = Ramifications of the silence on justice.

FLETCHER: Black America is historical split on Israel and Palestine = Initially Accepted but After the Six-Day War more African-Americans began speaking out against Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. Now they are quiet again. — WHY?

Rev. Heber Brown, Pastor of Pleasant Hope Baptist Church in Baltimore, Maryland

BROWN: It’s very unfortunate these organizations credible sources for human rights and rights for African-Americans are silent on the issue of MURDERS AND DESTRUCTION OF PALESTINIANS. Part of it is relationships these Black groups have with foundations and funders that are PRO-ISRAEL. = Funding of conferences and institutes by Pro-Israel conservatives siding with Israel = Quieting effect on Mainstream Black Groups to NOT speak out.

Black churches are quiet as Presbyterians voted in favor of divestment from Israel.

BROWN: I think part of it is ignorance of foreign policy issues not just in the churches but across all Americans until there’s some major crisis so we start paying attention. An Absent of Context as we are NOT a people engaged in world affairs as other nations are. + Bad theology around Israel that says Israel is promised land for a chosen FEW Jews with have divine right to this land = That silences many churches on Israel’s racist views against Palestinians = Christian Zionism??

BROWN: Right-Wing people like John Hagee, a televangelist for organization called Christians United for Israel = Christian Zionist are a white evangelical church that market their ideas to black churches with recruited African-American pastor as liaison = Goes around touting Israeli talking points and the occupation + they throw money at black pastors for what they call holy land tours = Send Pastors to Israel for indoctrination.

FLETCHER: How do you respond when some say “this is supposed to be the promised land to the Jews and Palestinians are interlopers?”

BROWN: I do not equate BIBLICAL Israel to TODAY’s state of Israel. Looking at events of the ’40s and the ’60s with the creation of TODAY’S state of Israel. The Bible and scriptures don’t talk about dinosaurs, but black Christians believe dinosaurs existed. As thinking people of faith we know the Scriptures must mesh with modern society in order to engage in the world we live. So more black Christians and Pastors must see the facts related to MISTREATMENT of the Palestinians by TODAY’s Israel which is NOT BIBLICAL ISRAEL = Make informed discussions based on the massive differences between a biblical telling of history and today’s facts = We as thinking people of faith must see these differences in many other areas of our lives

FLETCHER: When SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, issued its statement in 1967, it was demonized as anti-Semitism = Blacks have a complicated relationship with Jews as they call African-Americans anti-Semitic to stop any criticisms of Israel?

BROWN: Being reflexively called anti-Semitic is offensive for those who speak out against what the Israeli government and the Israeli military do. The purpose is to suppress free speech and it forces people into mute mode with a offensive slur or label. Israelis don’t like to be called or labeled racist just like black don’t want to be called anti-Semitic. = It is a complicated relationship between African Americans and Jews, but isn’t that normal in all relationships? So I would say to people that if there’s charges of anti-Semitism, I would say hold on, slow down. If we call right right and wrong wrong, that does not by its essence mean that we’re working for your destruction or that we hate you. It means we care and we want you to live up to the best of the virtues, values, and traditions. When these criticisms just result in a reflex it’s problematic, and must be stopped and the relationship improved.

There are so many courageous Jews who are standing up, speaking up, and facing immense ridicule from their own community because they’re saying, you cannot do this in my name, this is not the best of Judaism, you are besmirching what is the beauty of our culture and our people. I would remind those using ANTI-SEMITISM to suppress truth, there are Jews right now laying their bodies on the line to make sure that there’s justice, justice and peace in Palestine-Israel, and we offend their witness when we try to lump all Jews together. Less than 24 hours ago, I was marching in the streets of Baltimore City, Maryland, with Jews in Baltimore who were saying, “Not in my name”, “Free Palestine”. Jews were chanting, “Resistance is justified when occupation continues.” There’s a rich and vibrant spirit for justice and peace within the Jewish community with standing up on this issue. And I just choose not to offend their courageous witness by believing that they all think the same.

FLETCHER: A very progressive person on this issue of Palestine, takes what is called a very balanced view. But they were very fearful of speaking up on this, because they would face political pushback charging that they’re insufficiently supportive of Israel. Democrats very good on most issues, but SUPPORT FREEDOM FOR PALESTINIANS SUFFER WELL FUNDED SMEAR CAMPAIGNS.

BROWN: To be elected you got to work on your image — work on a long list. And somewhere on that list is you have to be vocal about supporting the Israeli military and Israeli government in the occupation of Palestine. OR ELSE A EXPENSIVE SMEAR will be funded by Pro-Israel MONEY! = Gets much more difficult the higher you go in electoral politics. Federal level becomes even more difficult for those who want to speak out for justice and righteousness. The right views on issues are NOT ALWAY IN LINE WITH AIPAC OR FDD.

USA AND ISRAEL SHARE REPRESSION TECHNOLOGIES:

Most Black folk don’t see the relevance in fighting for FREEDOM for Palestinians if it hurts their chances of winning an election and helping their own repressed people. It was helpful for me when I went to Palestine-Israel and I saw for myself the kinship between the oppression faced by African-Americans and the occupation faced by Palestinians, kinship, not only historically, but even modern-day cities like Detroit, Baltimore, Newark, and the rest, they have technology that’s used to conduct surveillance on black and poor communities. Some of that same technology, and in some cases some of the same companies, are involved in the surveillance of Palestinians as well Blacks. There is a direct connection there. = CAMERAS + DRONES + CHECKPOINTS = CLOSE KINSHIP in Racist Suffering using technology between Blacks and Palestinians resulting from Discriminatory laws.

If President Obama, for example, pulls out the talking point that many of the elected officials will say, “ISRAEL HAS A RIGHT TO DEFEND ITSELF” — Yet Marissa Alexander is facing 60 years in prison because she dared to try to defend herself.

BROWN: I am hopeful that with continued pressing and organizing, particularly between Palestinians, African-Americans, and courageous Jews, who are in this fight as well, the stronger our coalition can become to put pressure on elected officials just like AIPAC and other groups do.

REV. MICHAEL LIVINGSTON, DIR. NATIONAL PUBLIC POLICY, INTERFAITH WORKER JUSTICE

FLETCHER: With all of the issues that are facing black America, why should people give a damn about Palestine?

LIVINGSTON: Because in the church we believe in one common humanity created in the image of God. What affects one of us affects all of us, and it doesn’t matter where it happens. So there ought to be a deep concern on the part of any Christian, certainly, but I would say any person of faith, when devastating circumstances like this exist in even a distant part of the world.

FLETCHER: How do the black churches raise the issue of Palestinian murders like Presbyterian Church by boycotting Israeli products and divestiture from Israeli funding?

LIVINGSTON: Historically the African-American church has NOT been engaged in international issues.

FLETCHER: But the African-American church spearheaded the anti-apartheid struggle in the United States. + African-Americans were central to the anti-Vietnam War movement. = A history of engagement on international issues. But It’s striking this relative level of silence when it comes to Palestine.

LIVINGSTON: The African-American church has involved in blacks in Africa = Strong kinship. Also, in the Vietnam War, a high proportion of African-Americans were drafted to fight in that war = A central concern of our community. For Palestine, Muslims, and Arabs, we haven’t historically felt that same kind of connection. And, again, I lament that. I regret it. If you don’t pay attention to it, if you don’t educate yourself, and you only are subjected to the kinds of mainstream responses and analysis that you get in our media, and, of course, from Jewish organizations which are intent upon telling their story in the United States, it’s hard to get that deeper, more pervasive understanding of the roots of that conflict and why it persists today.

FLETCHER: After visiting occupied Palestine twice and being struck by the HORRIBLE conditions faced by the Palestinians in an apartheid environment that was worse than Jim Crow — Did you feel that the circumstances mirrored the African experience at all?

LIVINGSTON: My daughter just returned from Israel, and she was profoundly affected by this and felt deep similarities in our experience here and what the Palestinian population has to deal with there, going through those barriers and the physical segregation that exists there. It’s stunning how similar it is to what blacks experienced here. That’s one of the reasons why I think it’s so important for us to be more engaged in this and to raise our voices, along with others, in trying to address that situation. But absolutely I think those parallels are felt because they’re real.

FLETCHER: Watching the pictures from Gaza — What’s your reaction?

LIVINGSTON: It’s devastating, it’s sickening, because of the very current reality of the destruction and the devastation and the loss of human life, including and especially children, but all life there, and also because there’s the sense that it’s a drama that just keeps repeating itself and that the big pieces that have to be shifted in a deep and profound way in order to bring some real change there — USA is NOT helping make that change though we have such a profound ability to affect what’s going on there, to influence it — Beyond just talking about it, we just don’t seem to be exercising any of that muscle. INSTEAD WE REARM ISRAELI MURDERERS.

FLETCHER: We’re watching this having a very similar reaction. How do many people looking at exactly the same pictures have an entirely different reaction?

LIVINGSTON: It’s media, it’s education, it’s the relentless drumbeat of one (ISRAELI-AIPAC-WALL STREET) narrative to the exclusion of the other (PALESTINIAN VIEWS), so that when people see this or hear about it, they think the things they’ve been taught to think. Americans must listen to broader sources, like The Global African, Telesurtv.net/English, and The Real News Network, for example, if they don’t travel themselves or get in touch with people who have traveled.

LIVINGSTON: People must seek into their own circles people who have perspectives which are different from the dominant narrative in our culture, they never move and they see the same thing, and they don’t get engaged in this in a way that will help to shift the balance of influence, and eventually power, so that we intervene there like people who really do want to see peace happen to everybody involved there.