Black and Palestinian liberation movements find common ground in Oakland

Ta-Nehisi Coates

The following are the introductory remarks by Lara Kiswani, Executive Director of AROC (Arab Resources Organizing Center), on Oct. 26, 2024,, in Oakland, California. The occasion was author Ta-Nehisi Coates in Conversation with Dena Takruri on the Struggle for Liberation before a packed audience at the First Congressional Church, which has served as a venue for a number of progressive events throughout the years. AROC Action and Palestine Festival of Literature sponsored this presentation.

Coates, the best-selling author of Between the World and Me, discussed his most recent book, The Message. The book includes his thoughts on his visit to Palestine and what he saw and experienced there. The conversation included the Palestinian struggle for self-determination and the Black Liberation movement.

I thought that Sister Kiswani’s comments were most appropriate for the evening’s event, and worthy to share with others who were not in attendance.

— Clarence Thomas, ILWU Local 10, retired, co-founder DeClare Publishing


Oct. 25, 2024: Opening remarks by Lara Kiswani at the event, “Ta-Nehisi Coates in Conversation with Dena Takruri on the Struggle for Liberation” 

Welcome everyone. My name is Lara Kiswani, and would like to welcome you all to our event today and thank the original stewards of this land, the Ramatush Ohlone people, for allowing us to host it here in Oakland. 

Some of you may know me as the executive director of AROC; today I am also with AROC Action, a new organization working to grow the political power of the Arab, Southwest Asian, and North African communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. An organization specifically grown out of the struggle to end the genocidal war on Gaza and to defend against discrimination and repression against Palestinian, Arab people, and our solidarity movement – which you are all a part of. 

This past year has put our collective energies to the test. We have shown up day in and day out in the streets and in the halls of power to do everything we possiblely can to stop the genocide in Gaza and to support our people in Palestine, and Lebanon, and in the wider region. 

Amid all the amazing and inspiring activities, large and small, it has been quite some time since we have organized an event of this nature. But when the opportunity arose to have these two great minds be in conversation, we knew it was important that we pull this together. 

You are probably all here today because you have read Ta-Nehisi Coates’ latest book, the Message. Many of you have felt seen or inspired by his words. Or you are moved by Dena Takruri’s books and inspired by her words. Many of you have surely been moved by Ta-Nehisi Coates’ recent interviews, by his clarity, and unwavering conviction. 

Ta-Nehisi reminded everyone that not only are we surrounded by the majority of people of the world who are saying No to war, No to Racism, No to colonial violence, No to U.S. militarism, No more arming Israel! — But also that Palestinian solidarity is a necessary and common sense practice for any person of conscience. 

It is not a coincidence that it took a renowned Black writer and journalist to cut through this outrageously oppressive political environment in the media that has attempted to erase us as Palestinians. It is not a coincidence because understanding the Black freedom struggle is a logical – and necessary – entry point into seeing and understanding Palestine and the Palestinian freedom struggle.

And that is why it is so meaningful to hold this event right here in Oakland. A town where the slogan “none of us are free until all of us free,” and “an injury to one is an injury to all,” are not hollow empty words, but a deeply felt reality that reverberates across the decades. 

So in case you all were wondering. This isn’t just a discussion or political education. This event is a renewed call to action. 

Ta-Nehisi Coates’ recent solidarity with our movement at every venue and at every turn is an invitation to ground us in our shared histories and to get us in formation for the days ahead. 

This event calls on us to see ourselves as part of a protracted struggle, a generational struggle. 

We know that the U.S. government’s partnership with apartheid Israel is an organic one, organic to the interests of U.S. imperialism. And as the U.S. arms Israel, commits a genocide in Gaza, Israel then exports its training and technology to be used to repress communities and peoples’ struggles across the world. 

INDEED, it was right here in the Bay Area that a multiracial coalition Stopped Urban Shield. After an eight-year campaign successfully defunded and put an end to the largest SWAT training and arms expo in the U.S., that brought the Israeli military and other fascist paramilitaries to train local police right here in our backyard. We fought Urban Shield. And we won. 

We know that the International Longshore and Warehouse union, ILWU Local 10, made history in 1984 when they refused to offload South African cargo during apartheid South Africa. They fought apartheid South Africa. And they won.

And it was right here in Oakland where ILWU Local 10 honored our community pickets and Blocked the Boat. By refusing to handle Israeli cargo and indefinitely stopping the largest Israeli shipping company, Zim Shipping Line, from docking and unloading its goods at the Port of Oakland for 10 years and counting! We fought against Apartheid profiteering and we won. 

Our solidarity has produced material gains for our people. And yet, there is still so much more to be done. But I tell with all the confidence I can muster, we will continue to fight. And we will win. 

While we must continue to hold all those accountable, particularly the U.S. government for its role in facilitating this genocide, we must do so while also recognizing the brave voices who have spoken out, risked their careers, their livelihood, including all those who remain unseen and unnamed. We acknowledge the brave voices amongst the trade unions, health care workers, journalists, teachers, students, youth, and the elected officials who choose to stand on the right side of history. 

We know that even if we win liberation for Palestine tomorrow, our struggle is not over. If we do not win the struggle for economic and racial justice, if we do not win the struggle against fascism, if the ongoing struggle for Black freedom isn’t made a reality, and if our Indigenous siblings are still fighting for Land Back, then our fight will continue. None of us are free until all of us are free. 

So we invite you to join AROC Action as a volunteer, as a member, as a donor so we can build the political power necessary to shift policies and governing power. 

If anyone doubted this before, it is certainly clear today that the question of Palestine is central to any social justice movement. Today, there is consensus across progressive communities that the war on Gaza, the U.S.-backed assault on Palestine is a threat to all movements for justice. 

Our struggle to abolish apartheid and fascism in our homeland is one and the same with an international struggle for economic and political democracy, for education and health care for all, for right relations to land, to free all political prisoners, for social justice, gender justice and climate justice, shaped in the interests of working people. 

The Palestinian movement is shaping the world stage today. While we have in fact seen the worst that war and racism have to offer, we’ve also seen the best of humanity across the world. 

Tonight’s event is about that solidarity. It is about the connections between our liberation struggles. It is about the power of our collective action. And more than anything, it is about our inevitable freedom. 

As Ta-Nehisi Coates reminds us in his book, the story of conquered people is incomplete without the story of struggle and freedom. And just as they once said it was impossible to end Jim Crow, impossible to end apartheid in South Africa, we know the centuries-long struggles of those movements make way for our freedom today. Abolitionists, feminists, anti-apartheid leaders, and political prisoners not only teach us about oppression but they teach about how to pave the path toward freedom. 

Let Palestine be the north star for what is possible for all colonized people. Let us fight for a free Palestine, as a roadmap for the freedom of us all. 


Join the Struggle-La Lucha Telegram channel