Summer ‘24 was quite interesting. The sun was out, plans were actually making it out the group chat, and it was definitely overall rejuvenating.
Truly a BRAT summer-- a carefree, youthful summer vibe!
You want to know another thing I found quite bratty during this luxurious time? How non-black Palestine supporters sprinkled anti-blackness within their advocacy, ranging from throwing our police brutality experiences back into our faces— telling us how disrespectful it is to “override” Palestine support by trying to get attention on other countries’ crises, like Congo, Sudan, and Haiti— while simultaneously undermining our support for Palestinian people because many have endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in this years Presidential Election instead of not voting at all.
Truly a BRAT summer-- a carefree, youthful summer vibe!
You want to know another thing I found quite bratty during this luxurious time? How non-black Palestine supporters sprinkled anti-blackness within their advocacy, ranging from throwing our police brutality experiences back into our faces— telling us how disrespectful it is to “override” Palestine support by trying to get attention on other countries’ crises, like Congo, Sudan, and Haiti— while simultaneously undermining our support for Palestinian people because many have endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in this years Presidential Election instead of not voting at all.
As you can tell, this rubbed me the entirely wrong way, so just allow me to illuminate:
When Joe Biden dropped out of the Presidential race and endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris, there was a clear shift in public attitude. Kamala seemed to appeal to the youth population better than Biden did, and non-voters were beginning to reconsider their decision— maybe because she can actually formulate sentences and didn’t need First Responders on standby during her speeches (was that a little too much? Yeah yeah, that’s my bad).
Nonetheless, Kamala WAS now a brat— unapologetically bold, sassy, and confident in her stances; nobody could bring her down. Considered an it girl among the youth, from her coconut analogy to her snarky but clever remarks to her opponent in the midst of a debate, Kamala WAS our girl.
I place emphasis on WAS because then, once again, there was a dramatic 180°. During one of her campaign trips to Michigan, Kamala was in the middle of explaining to voters the dangers of Project 2025: The termination of the Affordable Healthcare Act, social security AND medicare, and how it bluntly ignored the global climate crisis. She was then interrupted by Pro-Palestine protesters who were shouting, “Kamala, Kamala you can’t hide! We won’t vote for genocide.” Kamala, in her supposed BRAT era, responded accordingly: “You know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I’m speaking.” The crowd behind her seemed to engage and uplift her smart snapback, but the internet was rather disturbed.
“She thinks she can BRAT her way into the presidency without actually addressing any real-world issues in America,” one social media influencer said, and everyone basically followed that narrative. Wow, what a disingenuous response to genocide. They seemed not to approve of what they were once uplifting. Why is that?
That is not for us to specifically debrief about now, because while she is under attack for that, another discussion point is introduced:
Nonetheless, Kamala WAS now a brat— unapologetically bold, sassy, and confident in her stances; nobody could bring her down. Considered an it girl among the youth, from her coconut analogy to her snarky but clever remarks to her opponent in the midst of a debate, Kamala WAS our girl.
I place emphasis on WAS because then, once again, there was a dramatic 180°. During one of her campaign trips to Michigan, Kamala was in the middle of explaining to voters the dangers of Project 2025: The termination of the Affordable Healthcare Act, social security AND medicare, and how it bluntly ignored the global climate crisis. She was then interrupted by Pro-Palestine protesters who were shouting, “Kamala, Kamala you can’t hide! We won’t vote for genocide.” Kamala, in her supposed BRAT era, responded accordingly: “You know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I’m speaking.” The crowd behind her seemed to engage and uplift her smart snapback, but the internet was rather disturbed.
“She thinks she can BRAT her way into the presidency without actually addressing any real-world issues in America,” one social media influencer said, and everyone basically followed that narrative. Wow, what a disingenuous response to genocide. They seemed not to approve of what they were once uplifting. Why is that?
That is not for us to specifically debrief about now, because while she is under attack for that, another discussion point is introduced:
"Can I vote for Kamala and still stand for Palestine?"
Now, for a quick story time: We have this TikTok content creator by the name Tori [torigrier.4] that uses her platform to speak about political issues while also posting relaxed videos. In one of her posts, she casually mentions to her audience that she will be voting for Kamala Harris in the Presidential Election. She received backlash from a variety of the comments that questioned her allyship with Palestine because of her endorsement. One comment specifically caused a ripple effect on everything that followed: If you are going to vote for Kamala, remove the Palestinian flag out of your bio.
She must have been tired and annoyed from the endless hate: she stated in a response video that she will remove it because still, she will be voting for Kamala. This is when all hell breaks loose and we start to identify a pattern.
Tiktok Content Creator Maya - Ayooni [mayuhnaise] is relatively known for her activism for social justice, specifically Palestinian advocacy on her page accompanied by 2 Million of her followers (when you see her face, you’ll recognize her). She ends up inserting herself in this conversation and makes a video that basically responds to Tori's removal of the Palestinian flag, and agrees with everyone in the comment section that voting for Kamala would be an outright betrayal to the Palestinian people. Through her platform, this encourages others to conclude that black people who are voting for Kamala are single issue voters, voting for themselves and their needs, and somehow reaches the point that we are the real colonizers of other countries, we only think about ourselves, and weren't real advocates for the Palestinians in Gaza.
One comment specifically I'd like to highlight from this up-war would be from one of my former favorite creators, Naley [NaleyByNature]. In the midst of this feud, she inserted herself and provided an observation that I'd deem invalid: “So you guys were on top of cars in 2020 screaming Black Lives Matter only to be voting in a cop in 2024”— in reference to Kamala being a prosecutor. How interesting that response is.
Maya ends up deleting her video, and she and Tori go live to debrief the drama. Tori remains stern, and does not rescind her choice of removing the Palestinian flag and endorsing Kamala. On the other hand, Maya is telling Tori to calm down, minimizing the entire experience in a very condescending way, and is found laughing continuously to another person behind the screen, as Tori speaks. Once Tori begins to make good points and combat Maya’s victim mentality, Maya ends up muting Tori completely telling her that she is not allowing this to be a discussion. And yeah, there you go.
She must have been tired and annoyed from the endless hate: she stated in a response video that she will remove it because still, she will be voting for Kamala. This is when all hell breaks loose and we start to identify a pattern.
Tiktok Content Creator Maya - Ayooni [mayuhnaise] is relatively known for her activism for social justice, specifically Palestinian advocacy on her page accompanied by 2 Million of her followers (when you see her face, you’ll recognize her). She ends up inserting herself in this conversation and makes a video that basically responds to Tori's removal of the Palestinian flag, and agrees with everyone in the comment section that voting for Kamala would be an outright betrayal to the Palestinian people. Through her platform, this encourages others to conclude that black people who are voting for Kamala are single issue voters, voting for themselves and their needs, and somehow reaches the point that we are the real colonizers of other countries, we only think about ourselves, and weren't real advocates for the Palestinians in Gaza.
One comment specifically I'd like to highlight from this up-war would be from one of my former favorite creators, Naley [NaleyByNature]. In the midst of this feud, she inserted herself and provided an observation that I'd deem invalid: “So you guys were on top of cars in 2020 screaming Black Lives Matter only to be voting in a cop in 2024”— in reference to Kamala being a prosecutor. How interesting that response is.
Maya ends up deleting her video, and she and Tori go live to debrief the drama. Tori remains stern, and does not rescind her choice of removing the Palestinian flag and endorsing Kamala. On the other hand, Maya is telling Tori to calm down, minimizing the entire experience in a very condescending way, and is found laughing continuously to another person behind the screen, as Tori speaks. Once Tori begins to make good points and combat Maya’s victim mentality, Maya ends up muting Tori completely telling her that she is not allowing this to be a discussion. And yeah, there you go.
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I encourage you to formulate your own opinion on this matter before you blindly submit to the popular approach. Now let me share a few thoughts. |
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There is a clear demand and entitlement when it comes to Black People’s advocacy, an expectation of a particular caricature from Black individuals. Once they are no longer abiding by what has been mentally established, there is anger. Deep resentment and annoyance seems to trail after Black People have already given extra support, established protest strategies, and provided mainstream attention to overlooked issues. People understand that Black people are the most influential, powerful, unifying group of people. Although they may not prefer them, they tolerate them enough to reap benefits by association.
But once black people are no longer useful in that sense, or begin to focus on their own issues, there's a problem. Anti-blackness rushes immediately after. What is truly the problem with Black People prioritizing themselves in the midst of several issues?
Black People--specifically Black Women-- have always been at the forefront of everyone else’s social issues.
Congo, Sudan, Haiti, Nigeria, Somalia, Ethiopia. There are many countries that are facing similar or worse conditions than the Palestinians today. By no means am I trying to size up the crises of the world or play oppression Olympics. However, it is critical that we recognize and acknowledge those at the bottom of the barrier and provide attention to these issues. Why do you think Ukraine and Palestine have gotten the most news coverage, compared to the hundreds of African countries that have been struggling even before the formation of America? Anti-Blackness plays a pivotal role.
Another point I’d like to make, more focused on the electoral part of this discussion, is that BLACK PEOPLE ARE THE SINGLE ISSUE VOTERS?? WE ARE?? Absolutely not. Besides history simply debunking that, Black people, till this day, do not have the privilege to vote on whatever issue is currently trending. In my opinion, it must be understood that as Americans, there is a lingering unfortunate fact that we do play a role as citizens in the genocide of the Palestine people because our country is allied with the opposing team. Yes, we can definitely apply pressure to allow our voices to be heard, but we must grasp that concept.
Now with that being ruled out, which candidate would allow LEGAL pressure to be continuously applied? Which candidate wouldn’t allow my life here to be a complete hell because of my skin tone? To get more specific, which candidate will not allow the very force killing my people on a regular basis to be immune from the law?
Voting for no one isn’t solving any of these issues.
But once black people are no longer useful in that sense, or begin to focus on their own issues, there's a problem. Anti-blackness rushes immediately after. What is truly the problem with Black People prioritizing themselves in the midst of several issues?
Black People--specifically Black Women-- have always been at the forefront of everyone else’s social issues.
Congo, Sudan, Haiti, Nigeria, Somalia, Ethiopia. There are many countries that are facing similar or worse conditions than the Palestinians today. By no means am I trying to size up the crises of the world or play oppression Olympics. However, it is critical that we recognize and acknowledge those at the bottom of the barrier and provide attention to these issues. Why do you think Ukraine and Palestine have gotten the most news coverage, compared to the hundreds of African countries that have been struggling even before the formation of America? Anti-Blackness plays a pivotal role.
Another point I’d like to make, more focused on the electoral part of this discussion, is that BLACK PEOPLE ARE THE SINGLE ISSUE VOTERS?? WE ARE?? Absolutely not. Besides history simply debunking that, Black people, till this day, do not have the privilege to vote on whatever issue is currently trending. In my opinion, it must be understood that as Americans, there is a lingering unfortunate fact that we do play a role as citizens in the genocide of the Palestine people because our country is allied with the opposing team. Yes, we can definitely apply pressure to allow our voices to be heard, but we must grasp that concept.
Now with that being ruled out, which candidate would allow LEGAL pressure to be continuously applied? Which candidate wouldn’t allow my life here to be a complete hell because of my skin tone? To get more specific, which candidate will not allow the very force killing my people on a regular basis to be immune from the law?
Voting for no one isn’t solving any of these issues.
I hate to get political, but I love getting political.
Referring back to Kamala Haris and Tori, there is surveillance and tone policing when Black people are on a large platform.I do disagree on some aspects concerning how Kamala AND Tori initially handled their situation, but I recognize a larger picture: an ideal standard is only applied to them because they themselves aren't deemed as worthy enough alone. #identitypolitics.
I do want to take a chance to address my last article that has similar discussion points: Y’all Gotta Lock In. Reflecting on this piece of mine, I recognize that ironically, I mirrored some of the qualities that I dismantled in this current article now: Placing a standard on black people. Although I did round it back to the need of us advocating for ourselves, I should have focused more on that point, and how I am against black ignorance, than to measure Black atavism in a foreign fight.
I recognize that, I learned from it, and I seek more understanding in this knowledge, so I myself can evolve and teach others.
I recognize that, I learned from it, and I seek more understanding in this knowledge, so I myself can evolve and teach others.
Biggest Shoutout to Sister Anu! We beeeeeen discussed this. <3
Pelumi Atomori
