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'Have we forgotten?': Black and Pro-Palestinian progressives clash over Kamala Harris

Social media has been flooded with debates between two communities who have stood together for decades
Palestinians demonstrate against police brutality in support of US protesters over the death of George Floyd in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on June 8, 2020 (ABBAS MOMANI / AFP)
By Maysa Mustafa
Published date: 16 August 2024 20:29 BST | Last update: 3 months 1 week ago

Within the last week, social media has been inundated with a debate between two communities that have been allied for decades: progressive Black Americans and Palestinian Americans. 

Since Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic candidate for the 2024 presidential election, some Black Americans – who previously opposed President Joe Biden – have changed their minds about not voting for the Democratic party. 

Tiktok creator Tori Grier told her followers that although she doesn’t fully support Harris, she would rather, as a Black woman, have her in office than Donald Trump. 

An anonymous commenter responded that Grier should take the Palestine flag emoji out of her name if she was going to vote for Harris. Grier then removed the flag and said that she wouldn’t publicly support Palestine again. 

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The event that sparked the widespread “beef” was a TikTok live between Grier and Palestinian TikTokker Maya Abdallah, who had previously made a video criticising Grier for not taking the Palestinian issue seriously enough, and being quick to revoke her support after just one comment.

Abdallah argued in the live that it was wrong to pressure Palestinians into voting for a candidate who has played a role in the death of over 40,000 Palestinians abroad. Grier argued that Trump could facilitate even greater violence against Palestinians in Gaza, and Black Americans as well.

For many, the fact that Harris has even mentioned aiming for a ceasefire – which is usually followed by reiterating her support for Israel's “right to defend itself” – could lead some pro-Palestinians to vote for her. 

In the live, the two creators got into a heated debate that led to Abdallah muting Grier multiple times, and the debate got heated online.


Many Black social media users criticised Abdallah’s behaviour in the live.

Abdallah has taken to TikTok to apologise for any offensive actions or words, saying that she “handled this in the absolute worst way possible”. 

“I saw myself acting in anger and frustration towards a Black woman when that wasn’t the conversation that needed to be had,” she said. 

Grier has not accepted the apology.

Since then, many users have taken to their platforms to criticise the Palestinian movement itself in the United States. 

“She’s made a lot of takes that were offensive and lacking consideration for Black people,” TikTok user @basicallybetsy2.0 said. ”I also think a lot of people don’t realize that in the pro-Palestinian liberation movement, a lof of Black people have been calling out the anti-Blackness within it. A lof of people don’t view Black genocide as serious.” 

“The money that was coming out of my bank account every month to help Palestinians over in Gaza, that is going to stop. The money will be tripled for the people over in Congo,” another TikTok user, Tabitha Talks, said. 

Over on X, many users have echoed the sentiments on TikTok and started to call Palestinians and their allies “the watermelon people”.  

The condescending name – which alludes to the use of the watermelon instead of the Palestinian flag due to both algorithm censorship and Israel’s history of banning the flag for decades before the Oslo Accords – has angered many users online.  

In response to the sudden shift in allyship, Palestinian and pro-Palestinian creators have taken to their platforms to explain why cornering Palestinians into voting for Harris is offensive to their community – many of whom have watched the current Biden-Harris administration fund the ongoing bombardment that has killed their family members in Gaza. 


Another user said he has realised that he sympathises with Palestinians who are opting out of voting, and realises that Black Americans may not recognise themselves in a community that is experiencing similar events that they have in the past. 

 “American liberals don’t realise that the reason that the rest of the world has to give a shit about who comes into power there is because the rest of the world suffers from America’s foreign policy,” user Pistachiochaii responded in a stitched TikTok.

Pro-Palestinian users have voiced their concern about how this tension affects the solidarity between the Black and Palestinian liberation movements, which began almost a century ago.  

Palestinian TikToker Leen explained that Palestinians do not blame Black Americans for voting for Harris out of fear, but for claiming that Harris will be better for the Palestinian cause.

”Any time I’ve seen a Black person has said that they’re voting for Kamala, it was out of fear for themselves and a fear for their loved ones. Fear is an extremely powerful motivator. And unlike people on the right, who claim to feel 'unsafe while actually being in every way, shape or form systemically safe, Black people feel unsafe and are unsafe. Which is why I'm not getting on here and said ‘Don’t vote for Kamala’.”

“But I am saying that if you’re engaging in ‘vote blue no matter who’ discourse – if you’re willing to vote for someone who is directly involved in the genocide of Palestinians for ten months and counting – without so much as demanding a permanent ceasefire and arms embargo ... then you are throwing Palestinians under the bus.”


'Kamala Harris is not your auntie'

Momodou Taal is a Cornell African Studies PhD student, and a graduate leader of the Coalition for Mutual Liberation on campus. He was temporarily suspended for his involvement in pro-Palestiniain organising and the university’s Gaza Solidarity encampment.

For him, the current tensions signify Americans’ misconception of the relationship between foreign and domestic policy, as well as an alarming worry that “liberals have hijacked what it means to be Black”. 

“We have a tradition that is not liberal Blackness – that was internationalism,” Taal said. “Liberal Blackness is just American exceptionalism in blackface. We have to go back to Blackness, which is international, and not focus on North America.” 

“Kamala Harris is not your auntie,” Taal continued. “She is the woman who wants to be the face of a brutal empire.”

It also, he says, perpetuates the current injustice that Black Americans have suffered throughout the existence of the United States.

“We have to get out of this cyclical understanding of basically tying our destiny to the Democratic Party and the cyclical understanding that the only way for change is voting.”

In response to Black Americans who say they must focus on their oppression at home in the States before worrying about those oppressed in other countries, Taal argues that advocating for Palestine – and against Israel – is pertinent. 

“What we’re saying is that in Palestine, so many of our issues converge. Let’s take material issues. Black Americans are worried about police brutality: the police brutality techniques technologies are often in bed with the IDF, and they share tactics and share with technology or surveillance.

“So my point is that even if you were selfish as a Black person, and you only cared about Black issues, you should still be concerned [about what’s happening internationally]."

And with the relationship between Black people around the globe and Palestinians, Taal says there is a history that was deeply rooted long before content creators started bickering on TikTok lives.

“The reason why the UN recognised in 1973 that Zionism was racism was pushed by West African leaders because they said that we recognise them to be a form of colonialism," Taal said.

“Kwame Ture, arguably one of the most prominent voices of Palestinian Liberation in the 20th century in America, was the pan-Africanist who called for the worldwide African anti-Zionist front. The Black Panthers are another example. James Baldwin, another example. Malcolm X on Zionist logic. We have so many other examples throughout time."

The current discourse, to Taal, feels like a small collapse in an otherwise strong relationship. 

“Fundamentally, there is a deliberate working to pit our communities against each other. And it’s a shame, because I think after the Black Spring in 2020, what I noticed being in the encampment – when I asked white, liberal students ‘what radicalised you?’, they all said George Floyd in 2020 – where they learned about Palestine even more.” 

Continued Solidarity

Over the last couple of days, social media users of both sides have come out to chastise their own communities for engaging in the debate, and have shut down any rhetoric that divides the two movements. 

“The CIA is scrolling on their phones, on their bellies with their feet kicked up, twirling their hair watching y’all do the work for them,” TikTok user Afeni said. “Watching yall destroy the work of destroying Black and Palestinian solidarity all by yourselves."

While some say that it’s not necessarily a formal role that many have taken in flipping the narrative on the Democratic party – and against the Palestinian movement – others believe there could be a concrete relationship.

Many of those that are posting demeaning sentiments about Palestinian organisers have either praised Israel in the past, or have profiles that have no way of identifying who they are. The main comment that sparked the debate between Abdallah and Grier itself was made by a nameless and faceless account. 

Others have pointed out how this debate has the potential to harm the weight of “anti-blackness” just as “antisemitism" has. 

Taal echoed the feeling that debates like this are dangerous for the Black community.

“If we actually allow the Liberals to hijack and have a monopoly of defining Blackness, it will no longer be about material things. It will start to focus on microaggressions or just about identity politics. Or just people being oppressed because of their identity.” 

In contrast to all of the disagreements, there have also been many viral posts that have highlighted the colorful history of the two communities. 

From Taal’s perspective, although this drama is dangerous due to its timing, the work that has been done by Black and Palestinian intellectuals is too strong for online drama to redirect it in the long run. 

“Palestinian struggle has just been sustained so well, because Palestinians and its allies, for so long, have done the intellectual work necessary raising the issue. So when October 7 happened, there was already so much work done for people to be aware about the issue,” he said. 

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