Anti-Palestine Sentiment in the US is Just Garden Variety Racism
Let’s be real. This is fundamentally just white people ginning up hatred toward nonwhite people. Yes, whiteness is an ever-changing social construct, but Palestinians are not regarded as white.
You doubt me? Why, then, does this Pew Poll from November 2023 show that 61% of white people in the US approve of the military action Israel has taken in Gaza, but only 30% of people of color in the US approve of the military action Israel has taken in Gaza?
You know why. It’s the same reason people like Tom Cotton, Lindsey Graham, Donald Trump, and the entire Fox News network are huge haters of pro-Palestine protests on college campuses. Do you really think people like that, who have been blaming George Soros for everything wrong in the United States and casually making antisemitic jokes for years, are really out here crusading against antisemitism?
Please.
The same politicians, the same fascist counterprotestors, the same billionaire dickweeds, the same Manhattan Institute ignoramuses, and the same police departments who were arrayed against George Floyd protestors in 2020 are now arrayed against pro-Palestine protestors. Does that seem like a coincidence to you? White liberals stop short of taking a stand for justice, choosing instead to shift the conversation to what a bad guy Netanyahu is while hand-wringing about property damage and “mob rule,” as white nationalists continue a systematic assault on people of color, civil rights, democracy, free expression, and education.
