Black-Palestinian Solidarity: A Brief and Incomplete History

The historical alliance between Black radical activism and Palestine is one rooted in common interest and a common enemy - colonization.

A demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag at a Black Lives Matter Protest in Cleveland, Ohio in July 2016 (photo: Adrees Latif/ Reuters)

By Sasha Aston

I don't think it's unfair to say that "solidarity" is an essential term in the Black radical lexicon. The Black Panther Party put it simply when they said, "All power to all the people."

However, solidarity is more than just a philosophy; it's a practice that Black radical organizers have steadfastly dedicated themselves to for decades. Specifically, solidarity with Palestine has long been a pillar of American Black radical thought, speech, and action, not only because of the nature of Black radical values but because of the intersections between Black and Palestinian liberation, respectively. Culturally, geographically, and historically, the Palestinian and African diasporas are essential to one another.

We stand together as peoples who have suffered profoundly at the hands of the British, who have been oppressed by apartheid regimes on our own land, whose mothers have lost children to police violence only to be told that it was somehow their fault.

But even more profound than the shared grief is the shared history and shared work. There are collective beliefs, goals, and above all, a love for who we are and what we are capable of despite everything the colonial world has attempted to do to us.

The sanitization of Malcolm X's memory effectively obscures numerous critical aspects of his work, but his tour of the afro-Arab world and anti-zionist writings. These reflections of some of his most fundamental beliefs are a crucial missing piece from modern ideals about his impact. Specifically, X's work abroad was more than a chapter of his career as an organizer; it was a key turning point.

His travels lead him to the beliefs he held until the end of his life: specifically that the Black American struggle is not exclusively a Black American struggle but one part of a greater international struggle. This collective oppression has been divided across lines of region and nation to prevent the kind of solidarity that eventually leads to revolution. Not only did Malcolm X endorse solidarity with Palestinians, but engaging in it created an essential context for all of the work he did after.

In 1963 and 1964, he embarked upon several trips to North Africa and the Levant, first to participate in the Hajj and then meet with radical organizers, including the newly formed PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization), which led to a long relationship with the Black Panthers.

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Sasha Ashton is a writer and radical organizer based in Philadelphia, PA. She is a freshman studying political science on the pre-law track at Temple University. For more from Sasha, you can find her on Instagram and Twitter.