Tyler Profile picture
Dec 15, 2021 10 tweets 4 min read Read on X
How Zionism influenced Black Zionism, a thread.
The ideology of a “return to Africa” from the African diaspora was called Black Zionism in the first half of the twentieth century, indicating an affinity with Jewish Zionism. (1)
Just like Zionism, Black Zionism was a reaction to persecution, racism, degradation and discrimination, particularly a reaction to slavery. Black Zionism reflected profound disappointment with emancipation and reconstruction in the American South. (2)
Like early Jewish Zionist leaders, Black Zionists rejected national assimilation to the host nations. They demanded a return to their African culture. They thought not only about political liberation but also about cultural-psychological liberation. (3)
The most prominent Black Zionist of the 1920s and 1930s is Marcus Garvey. A Jamaican, Garvey's goals were to return to Africa by a Black shipping line, the liberation of Africa from white, colonial rule, and the establishment of a Black Empire to represent Black Power. (4)
The Jewish Question was compared to the "Negro Question," the Jewish diaspora to the African diaspora, persecution of Jews, and Blacks' persecution.

Several influential Black leaders were highly empathic to the Jewish cause in establishing a homeland. (5)
Edward Wilmot Blyden, a Liberian educator & politician, said the following,

"There is hardly a man who does not recognize the claim and the right of the Jew to the Holy Land, and there are few who would not be glad to see them return their place in the Land of their Fathers."
W. E. B. Du Bois,

"The demand for a Zion now became necessary for more than a million displaced and homeless Jews. There is no other place on earth to go."(Chicago Star, 1948).

In 1944, he lauded "Jewish Palestine" while criticizing Britain limiting Jewish immigration. (7)
In the 1945 Manchester Pan-African Congress, where Black leaders of Africa, together with Americans, called for the first-time complete independence of Africa, a prominent slogan of the Manchester Conference was “Down with anti-Semitism.” (8)
Many have claimed Zionism is colonialist & racist, yet many Black political leaders of the 19th & early 20th centuries used Zionism as a basis for Black liberation from oppression. No one can ignore that historical impact, and Zionism is anti-colonial. (9)

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More from @BluntBlackJew

Jan 16, 2022
I don't speak for all Black Jews, so I can not say my experience is the norm. However, it is despicable that while Jews were being held hostage, some people tweeted how police or armed guards would make people like ME unsafe at synagogues.
Not only was it disgusting to even start that conversation last night, but it shows how racist and paternalistic you genuinely are. Most of my experiences with the police have always been negative, while security at synagogues has never been an issue for me.
The people who routinely make this argument every time after a synagogue shooting and center Black Jews like we will 100% agree. WE DO NOT. These people offer no solution to the growing threat of attacks against our holy places in North America. Do not use us for your buffoonery.
Read 4 tweets
Dec 17, 2021
Israel and Africa, a thread.
Ghana was the first African country to recognize the statehood of Israel and became the gateway for Israel-Africa relations. At this time, Ghana’s first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, was extremely pro-Israel.
The Israeli water planning authority assisted with water infrastructure development. The Israeli construction firm Solel Boneh helped establish the Ghana National Construction Company, and a Ghanaian‒Israeli shipping company was established. Golda Meir on an official visit to Kenya, standing next to a
Read 9 tweets
Dec 14, 2021
Yesterday an anti-Zionist Jew decided to allude I couldn't be Jewish since I am Jamaican. I've decided to do a brief history thread on Jamaican Jews, their influence, and the relationship between Jamaica & Israel.
Spain officially decreed that “Moors, Jews, heretics, and New Christians were not allowed to go to the Indies.”

However, in 1508, the bishop of Cuba reported, “practically every ship [arriving in Havana] is filled with Hebrews and New Christians.”
Jews were allowed to settle in Jamaica by the English after capturing the Island in 1655.

By 1720, an estimated 20 percent of residents of the capital, Kingston, were descendants of Spanish-Portuguese Jews.
Read 11 tweets
Nov 25, 2021
My alma mater's student union passed a BDS motion last night which would do the following,
(1) The motion requires the student union to “refrain from engaging with organizations, services, or participating in events that further normalize Israeli apartheid

(2)The student union will post a list of blacklisted companies and organizations on their website.
(3)The motion defines antisemitism for the Jewish students on campus, and explicitly differentiates between [bad] Jewish students “inherently in violation of the BDS policy” through their support of Israel, and good Jewish students who reject Israel’s oppression.
Read 10 tweets

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