Angela Davis talking:
I think it’s extremely important to demonstrate that there are many people, especially black women, but people in general, who support Ilhan Omar, who has become the target of the vitriol of the current president. She is targeted because she is an immigrant, because she is Muslim, because she is a courageous, bold black woman who speaks out in defense of Palestinians. She is not afraid to criticize Israel. And, of course, the current president has made her the target of many of his attacks. We say that we stand with her, we support her, and we will not give up.
we know that since the election campaign, that led to the unfortunate election of Donald Trump, Trump has used Muslims as a foil. He has, of course, called for the banning of Muslim immigration into the U.S. He uses this bizarre logic of fungibility, where one Muslim represents the worst—or all Muslims, rather, represent the worst deeds that any Muslim has ever conducted. And it’s this logic of fungibility that is at the heart of racism, that is at the heart of Islamophobia. And I think that all of us who are opposed to racism, who are opposed to anti-Semitism, who are opposed to all forms of assaults against people because of their race, their background, their ethnicity, their religion, should stand with Ilhan Omar.
Barbara Ransby talking:
we’ve invited 100-plus black women to show up at the Capitol. We didn’t invite more; we’re trying to be aware of our carbon footprint. But we represent organizations and sectors. There are faith leaders that are coming: Jewish women of color are coming, Muslim faith leaders, Reverend Traci Blackmon from United Church of Christ. So it’s a broad cross-section.
And the Movement for Black Lives has called this gathering to physically show that we will, you know, dissect, get ourselves out of our lives, our busy lives, and come here to stand with Ilhan Omar. And she is not only being attacked, as Angela said, because she’s an immigrant woman, because she’s a black woman, but also because she’s a progressive voice that won’t be silenced, right? So, she has spoken—you mentioned Venezuela earlier. She eloquently called Elliott Abrams to task for his history of violent, imperialist interventions in Central America. And he is, of course, being the point person for what’s going on in terms of U.S. policy in Venezuela. So, very progressive voice that is refusing to be silenced.
I think there’s two things for us. One is that we see a growing trend of attacks on African Americans who dare to speak out on foreign policy issues, particularly the question of Palestine. Of course, Angela Davis, in Birmingham, was denied an award—and then had the award reinstated—because of her principled stand on Palestine. Marc Lamont Hill fired from CNN. And the list goes on. So we’re prepared to say that we want progressive black voices, in a spirit of black internationalism, to speak out on these issues without punishment.
And the second is, you know, the targeting of black women. Trump has been vitriolic toward so many groups, but I think there’s a particular venom when it comes to black women. He has attacked Maxine Waters. He attacked Frederica Wilson in Florida. He called his former congressmember. He attacked Omarosa, who I certainly don’t have very much political likeness to, but called her a dog. You know, so this kind of attacks on black women just has to be opposed.
And it’s interesting that Anita Hill has been in the news lately, of course, because of Joe Biden’s bid and his inexcusable role in humiliating her and making her vulnerable. I was a part of a mobilization in 1991 called “African American Women in Defense of Ourselves”—Angela was also a part of it—which came to the defense of Anita Hill, who was being vilified, who herself suffered death threats and threats of sexual violence because of the position she was put in and the way that she was so publicly humiliated and vilified. So we see similarly with Ilhan Omar now.
And these kinds of—these words have consequences. You know, we see a rise in right-wing violence. Recently a bookstore right outside of D.C. had an anti-racist book event disrupted by white nationalists, who literally marched through and intimidated people. So, the brazenness and boldness kind of in the—very much reminding us to pre-Nazi Germany.
And the shooting in San Diego. The synagogue in San Diego, the synagogue in Pittsburgh, what happened in New Zealand. All of these things point to the ways in which racist violence is being fueled by the words of Trump and others.
Angela Davis talking:
I am extremely proud that finally we’ve elected someone to Congress who speaks out in such a powerful way on behalf of black women, on behalf of Palestinians, on behalf of all people who are oppressed.
I’m also quite afraid for her. We know that she has received many death threats. And we know that much of the attention that is focused on her as an individual is meant to also focus on all of us who are trying to speak out against the current policies of the U.S. government, and particularly the policies on Israel. We experienced the assassination of another elected official in the American hemisphere, Marielle Franco in Brazil, a little more than a year ago.
And she received threats and was targeted in the same way that Ilhan Omar is being targeted today.
– And it looks like one of the people involved with her killing, who’s been accused of that, has a relationship with the Bolsonaro family, the current right-wing president of Brazil.
they were both former police officers. So we know that the government was directly involved in this attempt to eliminate Marielle Franco. Fortunately, there is a vast movement in Brazil. Her memory is being defended, and the black women’s movement in Brazil has only grown in the aftermath of her assassination.
It is up to us to prevent a similar set of circumstances from unfolding here in the United States, in defending Ilhan Omar. I have to really thank Barbara Ransby, who has done such an amazing job helping to organize this event with the Movement for Black Lives. And Barbara mentioned earlier that she participated in the defense of Anita Hill, Black Women in Defense of Ourselves. She was one of the main organizers of that massive movement.
– Back in 1991 when Anita Hill testified against then-nominee now Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Barbara Ransby talking:
I think there’s a number of variables. And Angela’s leadership and visibility on this, since the delegation in 2011, you know, has been really remarkable. And I also just want to put in context, you know, the movement in Brazil in response to Marielle Franco. But here, you know, it’s not just us, it’s also Thenjiwe McHarris and Miski Noor and some of the young leaders in the Movement for Black Lives, who, in 2016, included in their “Vision for Black Lives” solidarity with Palestinian human rights, and caught a lot of flak for it and had funders move away from them because of it. So I think it’s this generation of young black and Latinx activists. It’s also young Jewish activists, in Jewish Voice for Peace, in IfNotNow, who are breaking the silence around Israel. And it’s so important. So it’s important that Ilhan is not alone on that question and many others.
a wide range of organizations. Black Women’s Blueprint is involved, Black Youth Project 100. Black women from all over the country are coming to say we stand with Ilhan and that other women stand with us. So we’re telling the Republicans to back off. We’re also telling the Democrats to step up and have a much more vigorous defense of her.
Angela Davis talking:
Ilhan Omar is a major progressive voice on foreign policy issues, on issues of racism, on issues of misogyny. And finally, we do have someone in Congress who is not afraid to stand up and fight back. And, of course, I’m not at all attempting to belittle the legacy of people like Barbara Lee and Maxine Waters, who have been struggling with the Democrats in Congress for many years. But I think it’s particularly important that she took the lead in challenging the position on Venezuela.
The apparent coup that is underway now, supported of course by the U.S. government, is an attempt to increase the effect of the move towards the right throughout the world—Bolsonaro in Brazil, of course Duterte in the Philippines, Netanyahu re-elected in Israel. And, of course, one might be critical of the current leadership of Venezuela, but he was democratically elected. You know, what would we say in this country if another power decided to support a coup in the U.S., even though we have a president—well, we won’t get into that now, but you get the point that I’m making.
________
Angela Davis
author, professor and activist at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is the author of many books, including Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement.
Barbara Ransby
historian, author, activist adviser to the Movement for Black Lives and one of the planners behind Black Women in Defense of Ilhan Omar.
— source democracynow.org | Apr 30, 2019