Black Lives Matter Grassroots stands in solidarity with our Palestinian family who are currently resisting 57 years of settler colonialism and aparthied. As Black people continue the fight to end militarism and mass incarceration in our own communities, let us understand the resistance in Palestine as an attempt to tear down the gates of the world’s largest open air prison. As a radical Black organization grounded in abolitionist ideals, we see clear parallels between Black and Palestinian people.
We, too, understand what it means to be surveilled, dehumanized, property seized, families separated, our people criminalized and slaughtered with impunity, locked up in droves, and when we resist they call us terrorists. We, too, dream of a world where our people may 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.
For lasting peace to come, the entire apartheid system must be dismantled. The war on the Palestinian people must cease. We call on the United States government to immediately stop funding war and redirect the $4 billion in annual spending from the Israeli military to repair the damage caused by U.S. backed wars, military air strikes, coups, and destabilizing interventions against oppressed people around the world
Recent Posts
Black Lives Matter Grassroots Condemns the Unjust Conviction and Sentence for Karmelo Anthony “The system is guilty. Karmelo is not.”
Karmelo, who was just 17 years-old at the time of the incident, was never the aggressor. A child of impeccable character, a multi-sport athlete, an A student, and the captain of his football team, Karmelo should have been protected when he was being bullied. Instead, he was forced to defend himself, then criminalized, arrested, prosecuted, convicted, immediately remanded into the custody of the Collin County Sheriff, and sentenced to 35 years in prison. The state plans to cage him, stomp out his infinite potential, and deprive the world of his light until he is 54 years-old.
The Passing of Andrew Joseph Jr. – Our brother. Our comrade. Our teacher. Our coach. Our friend.
With his wife of 28 years and partner in all things, Deanna Joseph, he founded the Florida chapter of Black Lives Matter Grassroots and serves as the founding Rapid Response Coordinator and on-the-ground lead for the worldwide organization.
Black Lives Matter Grassroots Condemns the Shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego as an Act of White-Supremacist, Anti-Muslim Terrorism
We also know that the San Diego killers did not act in isolation, but in the context of a city, county, and country that has long criminalized people of color through so-called gang documentation and enhancements, white nativism, ICE raids, police violence, and racism and xenophobia writ large.
