The need to defend Israel's war crimes against the Palestinian people make Booker an important tool in developing Zionist talking points. He has not disappointed his patrons but he has disgraced himself in the eyes of Black people.
“At his age, Cory will be a blight on the political scene even longer than the rest of the Four Cs (colored conservatives counting cash).”
Glen Ford, Black Commentator inaugural issue, April 5, 2002
New Jersey’s junior senator Cory Booker has been on the Black Agenda Report radar for years. Before there was a Black Agenda Report our late co-founder Glen Ford and others on the team were writing for Black Commentator, and Ford analyzed the problem with Booker 20 years ago, when he was a candidate for mayor in Newark, New Jersey.
Cory Booker owes his fame and political fortunes to the right-wing Manhattan Institute and he was also the recipient of money and media attention from outfits such as the Bradley Foundation, which dedicated itself to destroying public education with school vouchers and the charter system. He even forged an alliance with Betsy DeVos, who later became Donald Trump’s Secretary of Education.
Of course local politics was only a springboard for Booker’s larger ambitions and he went on to become a United States Senator. As such he was true to form, including joining republicans in killing a bill that would have lowered prescription drug prices. Booker was a presidential candidate in 2020 and clearly still has those aspirations. Given this history, no one should have been shocked about the way he spoke of events in Israel and Gaza as a guest on the MSNBC program All In with Chris Hayes, in which he dared to include all of Black America in his pro-zionist rhetoric.
“...Hamas terrorists, ISIS like, Hitler like folks, who hate Jews and want to kill them. We cannot let these terrorists, these ISIS like, Nazi like people win. That’s why the debate in America should not be a debate. We should have the crystal clarity to support Israel and to call out these Nazi ISIS like folks who are targeting civilians with an attempt not just to kill and murder Jews, not just to kill and use Palestinians as human shields, .. to me there should be no confusion about this for Americans.”
Not only did Booker set a record for falsely using the words ISIS and Nazi in one statement, but he also implied that his support for apartheid Israel is something that is in some way connected with other Black people.
“And I’ll say this not just as a United States senator, not just as a patriot who would die for my own country. But I want to say this as a Black man. When you’re Black in America you understand the vulnerability within your own country you love.”
Of course the idea that the cynical and privileged senator would ever die for his country is just plain laughable. But worse than opportunistic hyperbole was his insistence on making a connection between the racist oppression that victimizes Black people here with the apartheid state. Strange to talk about being a target of racism and yet end up siding with Israel.
The only vulnerable group in Israel are Palestinians living under occupation. Their land is stolen, they are locked up indefinitely without charge or trial, and despite Booker’s fabrications, they are the ones who are used as human shields by the Israel Defense Force.
Cory Booker’s entire career is one huge fabrication fitting whatever narrative that will help him win over the right white people who have money and influence. He even invented an imaginary friend, a man he called T-Bone, who he said was a drug dealer who threatened to kill him but that the two later became friends. Aside from Booker’s inability to come up with a more believable and less racist name than T-Bone, the bizarre ploy is in keeping with the senator’s history.
Booker himself is an invention. He is an ambitious man who saw an opportunity if he made friends with the right wing. For a man with dreams of the presidency, nothing is more expedient than defending apartheid Israel and ensuring a fresh haul of campaign cash for the next election cycle.
Cory Booker was shrewd enough to parlay right wing support and money into a career in the Democratic Party. But his urge to embellish gets the better of him, whether he is creating fictitious drug dealers or claiming a connection between an apartheid state and the people targeted by racism in the U.S.
“This is why as an American, as a Black man, I will always stand against hate, and stand with the people who are targets of hate.”
If that statement was true, Senator Booker would be in solidarity with Palestinians. Israel’s Defense Minister referred to the people of Gaza as “human animals.” "I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed." He was true to his word, as medical personnel in Gaza’s hospitals attempt to perform surgery without power or water. Those trying to flee have been killed in Israeli air strikes and even hospitals are targets of Israeli bombing. Bombing a hospital is a war crime but the Zionist entity acts with impunity because Senators like Booker defend its actions.
Booker is actually fine with hatred of human beings. He makes common cause with people who want to destroy public education or deprive us of affordable life saving medication. He tells lies about our political beliefs, implying that Black people, who are most likely to be in solidarity with Palestine, join him in supporting the apartheid state.
The old term Uncle Tom doesn’t actually do Cory Booker justice. He is worse than Black people who act out of fear of white people. Booker has common cause with them, whether they are destroying public education or bombing families in Gaza. He is on their side, which means that he is most definitely not on the side of Black people. Booker’s performance may be a little more sophisticated than the minstrel shows of old, but he happily buck dances and entertains so that he can be a member of the rotten and racist political class.
Margaret Kimberley's is the author of Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents. Her work can also be found at Patreon and on X @freedomrideblog. Ms. Kimberley can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgendaReport.com.
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