Black Zionism: Difference between revisions

 

 

One of the main arguments of Black Zionists would be the precedent of U.S. settler-colonialism in the name of African American repatriation, through the emergence of Liberia. Liberia was a product of both white and black American interests. The American Colonization Society, supported by Abraham Lincoln and other prominent politicians, began sending freed black volunteers to Liberia in 1822. The African Civilization Society supported emigration to the West Indies, Mexico, and Liberia. However, Americo-Liberians, as African-American settlers became known, took control of indigenous West African land. Local people were excluded from citizenship until 1904. Liberia also supported U.S. business interests, and in order to exploit cheap labor reached a deal in 1926 with Firestone Tire and Rubber Company. By these actions, the Liberian government would receive military protection against hostile neighbors, and the U.S. government would gain a coveted naval post off the coast of West Africa. Black Zionists argues,that the case of Liberia reveals how the pathways of American capitalism, Racism and Neo-colonialism rerouted black freedom dreams(Thats the problem of Capitalism, not BLACK RACISM). The Black Zionist vision of a liberated homeland became a so-called "settler-colonial state" characterized by an exploitative ruling class, natural resource extraction, and a U.S. military outpost...as long as they call them..