Black-Palestinian Solidarity Has Deep Roots - YES! Magazine Solutions Journalism

Nov 9, 2023

A to end Israel鈥檚 war on Gaza took place Saturday, Nov. 4, in Washington, D.C., and in other cities around the United States and worldwide. So far, Israeli forces have killed more than in Gaza.

As opponents of the war grow in number, more than 5,000 Black activists, artists, scholars, and students and more than 150 organizations have signed the statement. Signatories include such luminaries as Angela Davis, Indya Moore, Marc Lamont Hill, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Robin D.G. Kelley, and more.

, who helped organize the statement, and who is the Michael Ratner Middle East Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, spoke with YES! Racial Justice Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on YES! Presents: Rising Up With Sonali about the roots of Black solidarity with Palestinians.

Sonali Kolhatkar joined YES! in summer 2021, building on a long and decorated career in broadcast and print journalism. She is an award-winning multimedia journalist, and host and creator of聽YES! Presents: Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. She is also Senior Correspondent with the Independent Media Institute鈥檚 Economy for All project where she writes a weekly column. She is the author of聽Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice聽(2023) and聽Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence聽(2005). Her forthcoming book is called聽Talking About Abolition聽(Seven Stories Press, 2025). Sonali is co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women鈥檚 Mission which she helped to co-found in 2000. She has a Master鈥檚 in Astronomy from the University of Hawai鈥檌, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. Sonali reflects on 鈥淢y Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host鈥� in her 2014聽聽of the same name.