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For my father, the move from Jim Crow to imperfect multiracial democracy meant everything. To be honest, it wounds me that people I love can and do accept segregation and subordination for Palestinians in the West Bank. I don't understand how they can look me in the eye.
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My existence was illegal and my family impossible under Jim Crow. To care for me is to reject segregation and anti-Black racism.
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Yet I watch certain Jewish friends and relatives floating between a refusal of racism in our US context and a refusal of multiracial democracy in Israel/Palestine. How can this be?
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And if the answer is they fear and hate Arab Palestinians more than Black Americans, I want those loved ones to know that this greater fear is if no comfort to me.
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My sense of self requires a commitment to tear down all the walls, all the systems that held my parents and ancestors in bondage.
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For me, the only way to honor my Black ancestors is to be against racism, slavery, apartheid, and genocide for anyone. And the only way to honor my Jewish ancestors is to be against sectarian government, expulsion, ghettos, and genocide for anyone.
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I hasten to add that the "I support Israel because I fear Arab violence" stance goes beyond Jews among Americans, but in my limited circles, such non-Jews are ignorant of segregation in Israel/Palestine. Many Christian Zionists are not.