James King

See, this is the difference between being Black in America, actually engaging in Black politics, and having to deal with people like you who only discovered oppression when somebody on YouTube convinced you that a small group of people you identify as white, and we identify as Jewish, are responsible for everything wrong in this country. Let me be very clear: AIPAC does not scare Black people. AIPAC is not the only large PAC or special interest organization in this country attempting to influence elections and move public policy. That is what special interest groups do. They advocate for the interests and policies their donors support. In AIPAC’s case, supporting candidates who favor continued U.S. support for Israel advances its policy objectives. You can criticize that. You can oppose their spending. You can oppose U.S. policy toward Israel. And we can absolutely agree that what the current Israeli government has done under Benjamin Netanyahu is wrong and does not serve the interests of all of us. But what you cannot do is take your opposition to a government, a PAC, or a foreign policy and use it to undermine, demean, or demonize Jewish people living right here in the United States. And this is where you have Black Americans fucked up. Some of you weird-ass white leftists have decided that Black Americans are supposed to subordinate our own political survival to your foreign policy priorities. You want us to put another country and another conflict ahead of the democracy we are fighting to preserve in the country where we actually live. That is never going to fucking happen. We are going to lock arms with the people in this country who are fighting alongside us, voting alongside us, organizing alongside us, and facing the consequences of this administration in the same communities and the same damn zip codes as us. When our own oxygen mask is secure, we can do more to help everybody else. But under an administration that some of you helped usher into power, while our rights, institutions, and communities are under direct attack, you do not get to dictate the priorities of Black politics to Black people. We have been fighting for our freedom on this soil for centuries. We know what our political survival requires. You do not get to show up now and tell us who our allies are, what our priorities should be, or whose liberation we are required to put ahead of our own. Don’t try to dictate Black politics to Black people. We are not the same. I need you to STFU!