by Margaret Kimberley, published on Black Agenda Report, November 22, 2023
As zionists ramp up the pressure, the Black misleadership class readily succumbs to protect their precious positions and dubious prominence.
In 2021 this columnist wrote, “The Palestine Litmus Test.” At that time Israel was carrying out one of its periodic attacks against Gaza, deliberately targeting civilians, and in doing so practicing war crimes. Now the zionist state is intent on completely destroying Gaza, killing as many people as possible and driving out the survivors so that the region can be open for settlement and for oil and gas extraction.
The horrific scenes of carnage have evoked revulsion for millions of people in the United States and around the world. Huge protests have taken place nationally and internationally and the zionists find themselves on the public relations defensive but will not concede defeat. They are using brute force to dox, damage careers, end careers before they start, withhold funds, and use other means to silence righteous indignation over Israeli war crimes.
Enter the Black misleadership class, which is both vulnerable to pressure and devoid of principles. Not only do they choose to go along to get along, but they always manage to put our collective name in their unscrupulous butt kissing.
New York City mayor Eric Adams was already on board, having traveled to Israel recently and once having expressed an intention to retire there. He spoke at a pro-Israel rally and evoked the memory of Emmett Till, comparing his murder to the plight of kidnapped Israelis. “This is an Emmett Till moment,” he said. Of course, Palestinians are the actual victims of race hatred but Adams is held in so little regard that the disgraceful comment didn’t receive much attention. But he has plenty of company amongst the rest of the misleaders who have been competing with one another to see who can play the fool better than the others.
Twyla Carter is CEO of the Legal Aid Society in New York City. When Legal Aid attorneys expressed a desire to publicly state their support of Palestine, Carter went to court to prevent their union from doing so. In a staff meeting she labeled criticism of Israel as “dog whistles for anti-semitism” and then sought to compare any pro-Palestinian statements to anti-Black racism. “And, again, as a Black woman, my closest analogy is hearing how people talk about ‘blue lives matter’ or other things that land on me differently.”
Leave it to a compromised head Negro in charge to compare condemnation of war crimes and genocide to blue lives matter so that she can keep her prominent position without any complications or opposition.
Obviously using the corporate media as a mouthpiece for zionism and by connection for the state is a tried and true method. Enter Al Sharpton, the king of scoundrels. Sharpton’s bosses at MSNBC have a new tactic. They are now claiming a connection between neo-Nazis and those who support a ceasefire or Palestinian rights.
Any implication that the mass movement to end Israeli war crimes has been infiltrated by neo-Nazis is an outright lie and a new low in cynicism, even for Sharpton. He played the part of a radical in New York City politics decades ago, but ever since he has been the front man for the Democratic Party or even in the case of dirty trickster Roger Stone, a useful idiot for republicans. He gave cover to the Barack Obama administration, and behaved like its “junkyard dog.” Now he has a seat at the table at MSNBC and uses his position to smear the mass movement against apartheid Israel.
“Talk about how in the middle of our dealing with the war of Israel and Hamas that some of these neo-Nazi groups are infiltrating some of the people who are outraged about what is going in Gaza, and turning what could be a balanced concern for those who suffered in Israel as civilians and those who suffer in Gaza as civilians as really a front for them to get the their anti-Semitic, anti-Jewish message out. Because there are some people who legitimately are for a two state solution like I am but that are outraged about what happened in Gaza that aren’t anywhere near anti-Semitic or neo-Nazi. Talk about how these neo-Nazi groups are infiltrating and manipulating some of these protests and turn them into something they were not originally designed for.”
The statement was vintage Sharpton who simultaneously claimed support for a two-state solution, while sympathizing with all civilians, while denying that protesters are anti-Semitic, while also saying that neo-Nazis are manipulating them. It was a tour de force of sleazy double talk, perfect for the need to remain a political player of no use to Black people while also keeping a lucrative gig as a television host.
The Black face in a high place is of no value to anyone other than these anointed individuals. Adams and Carter deliberately twisted Black peoples’ history in order to do their bosses’ bidding. Sharpton goes along with a tall tale made up out of whole cloth, smearing the people who are risking their livelihoods in order to expose war crimes.
Black “leadership” is no more than careerism to get votes for elective office or a big paycheck and a spot on the list of most powerful colored people. It doesn’t help Black New Yorkers to have a mayor who looks like them proudly proclaim his love for a racist nation and use the name of a murdered child to defend zionism, which is also killing thousands of children.
How low can they go? The question is a dangerous one. These are people who will sink to any depths to defend their seats at a corrupt table. But the people are steadfast in their condemnation of grotesque criminality. No amount of Uncle Tom foolery can hide their disgrace.
*Featured Image: MSNBC Youtube
Margaret Kimberley is the author of Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents. You can support her work on Patreon and also find it on the Twitter, Bluesky, and Telegram platforms. She can be reached via email at margaret.kimberley(at)blackagendareport.com.