Black Lives Matter chapters in Chicago and Los Angeles are receiving widespread condemnation for social media posts in support of the Palestinian cause days after the Hamas invasion of Israel. Across multiple online platforms, BLM activists shared posts justifying the attacks, drawing parallels between Hamas and the battle against “systemic racism,” and calling for similar “decolonization” in the United States.
A now-deleted post from the X account BLM Chicago displayed a Palestinian flag and the silhouette of a paratrooper above the caption “I stand with Palestine.” As the X community note that quickly sprang up beneath the post pointed out, armed Hamas militants used parachutes and gliders during their assault on Israeli neighborhoods during their weekend attack. One of the first acts of violence took place at a music festival near the Gaza border, during which 260 people were gunned down.
Another post attributed to BLM Chicago on Facebook featured a video of talking points defending Hamas, arguing that reports of the group’s violent actions are based on “racist and Islamophobic tropes” for which there is “absolutely no evidence.”
Following extensive criticism of the statements, BLM Chicago deleted some of the offending posts and issued a halfhearted apology. “Yesterday we sent out [messages] that we aren’t proud of,” the account wrote before doubling down on supporting Palestine.
Yesterday we sent out msgs that we aren’t proud of. We stand with Palestine & the people who will do what they must to live free. Our hearts are with, the grieving mothers, those rescuing babies from rubble, who are in danger of being wiped out completely🇵🇸♥️🖤💚
— BLMChicago (@BLMChi) October 11, 2023
Meanwhile, accounts tied to the Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter took its pro-Palestine stance a step further by justifying the attack.
“When a people have been subject to decades of apartheid and unimaginable violence, their resistance must not be condemned, but understood as a desperate act of self-defense,” wrote the account BLM Grassroots on X. The post continued by stating that Black Lives Matter “stands in solidarity with our Palestinian family who are currently resisting 57 years of settler colonialism and apartheid.”
Even more concerningly, the self-described “radical Black organization grounded in Abolitionist ideals” expressed its desire to see Black and Palestinian people alike “live freely on decolonized land.”
“May the borders, checkpoints, prisons, police, and watchlists that terrorize our communities crumble and may the world we build from their ashes honor those who have fallen in struggle,” the statement continued.
Black Lives Matter Grassroots
Statement in #Solidarity with the People of #Palestine. pic.twitter.com/BgsQBAZdis— BLM Grassroots (@blmgrassroots) October 10, 2023
Calls for solidarity between the two movements in the name of “decolonization” have raised significant concern about the threat of violent demonstrations within the Western world as well. As one Washington Post journalist reposted during the early hours of the invasion, “What did y’all think decolonization meant? vibes? papers? essays?”
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