06/23/2025
From Ferguson to Tehran: Why Black Americans Should Oppose U.S. Imperialism
By Lyon Carter
The language used in U.S. foreign policy isn’t just about diplomacy, it’s about domination. When the American government and media label Iran’s leadership a “regime” rather than a “government,” it’s more than a word choice. It’s a calculated move to delegitimize an entire nation, frame it as uncivilized, and justify everything from sanctions to war.
And for Black Americans, a people with centuries of experience resisting dehumanization and systemic violence. This should raise serious alarm.
Language as a Weapon: “Regime” vs. “Government”
Words like “regime” carry heavy connotations. They signal that a nation is:
• Unstable
• Illegitimate
• Unworthy of sovereignty
But this language is applied selectively. U.S. allies like Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy that suppresses dissent are rarely called regimes. Meanwhile, nations like Iran, Venezuela, or Cuba are constantly framed as threats to global order.
This isn’t objective reporting, it’s propaganda. It’s how empires manufacture consent for foreign intervention.
The Colonial Echo: “We Know What’s Best for You”
Just as enslaved Black people were once described as “too primitive” to be free, countries like Iran are cast as incapable of self-rule unless they conform to Western ideals. This is the same colonial logic repackaged:
“They don’t want freedom — they need it forced on them.”
This mindset erases the right to self-determination and replaces it with a racist paternalism. It suggests that non-Western peoples, especially brown, Muslim-majority nations, are not fully human, not fully capable, and not fully sovereign.
America’s Democracy Didn’t Begin in 1776 — It Began in 1965
Many proudly point to the American Revolution as the birth of democracy. But what kind of democracy denies the vote to Black people, Indigenous people, women, and the poor?
Until the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the U.S. was a democracy in theory, but apartheid in practice.
For nearly two centuries, Black Americans were ruled by laws they had no voice in shaping. The U.S. government operated under a system that:
• Enslaved us,
• Segregated us,
• Silenced us.
How can a country that upheld Jim Crow be called a functioning democracy? The truth is, Black Americans didn’t become full citizens on paper until 1965. And yet, this same country calls other nations “undemocratic”?
Iran: A Young Democracy, Demonized
When Iran underwent a revolution in 1979, it overthrew a U.S.-backed monarch and created a new political structure with elected leadership, constitutional law, and mass participation. While the system has flaws, so does ours; voter suppression, gerrymandering, mass incarceration.
In many ways, Iran and the U.S. are both young democracies, still grappling with their histories of violence and empire. But only one of them is treated as a rogue state. Only one is sanctioned, surveilled, and repeatedly threatened with war.
That treatment isn’t about democracy. It’s about obedience to empire.
What Black History Teaches Us About Empire
Black Americans know what it means to be criminalized for resisting oppression. From the rebellions of enslaved Africans to the Black Panthers and Ferguson protestors, every act of Black resistance has been met with violence and vilification.
Sound familiar?
That’s because the same state that:
• Lynched us for fighting back,
• Called MLK a “threat,”
• Flooded our neighborhoods with drugs and police,
…is the same state that overthrew Iran’s democratic leader in 1953, sanctioned its economy into crisis, and now claims moral authority over its future.
Jim Crow and Israeli Apartheid: Different Names, Same Logic
The Jim Crow system wasn’t just about segregated schools or buses, it was a full-spectrum campaign of racial control: voter suppression, legalized theft, over-policing, and brutal punishment for resistance.
Palestinians live under a modern-day Jim Crow system. Their homes are bulldozed. Their neighborhoods are militarized. They are restricted from movement, denied equal rights, and subject to constant surveillance.
Israel’s occupation mirrors America’s segregationist past and in some ways, it’s more advanced. Drones, biometric tracking, militarized checkpoints, this is what apartheid looks like in the 21st century.
And just like Black resistance was criminalized in the U.S., Palestinian resistance is labeled terrorism.
Different names. Same playbook.
The Black Radical Tradition: Global Solidarity
This isn’t a new idea. Some of our most visionary leaders made the connection decades ago:
• Malcolm X saw clearly that U.S. foreign policy was hypocrisy wrapped in patriotism.
• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called the U.S. government “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.”
• Angela Davis, Kwame Ture, and the Black Panthers linked our struggle to anti-colonial movements in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
They understood:
You can’t be for liberation at home and support domination abroad.
When Ferguson Rose, Gaza Answered
In 2014, when Ferguson protestors filled the streets demanding justice for Mike Brown, Palestinians under siege in Gaza tweeted messages of support, even sharing advice on how to deal with tear gas and riot squads.
That solidarity wasn’t symbolic. It was real. Because they saw their struggle in ours and we must see ours in theirs.
If we recognize our own pain, we must also recognize theirs.
Selective Human Rights and Global Racism
When Ukraine is invaded, the world rushes to its defense. But when Gaza is bombed, when Iran is sanctioned, or when African nations are plundered by corporations, those same voices go silent.
Why?
Because white supremacy doesn’t just decide who gets civil rights, it decides who gets humanity.
What Makes It Racist?
Calling Iran’s government a “regime” and denying its people sovereignty reflects a deep racial double standard:
• It denies their right to choose their own future.
• It implies that they must be corrected, controlled, or saved — by the West.
• It rests on the same logic that once said Black people were “not ready” for freedom.
It’s not just politics, it’s racial hierarchy on a global scale.
Why Black Americans Should Oppose This
We have every reason to oppose U.S. imperialism because we’ve lived under its domestic version.
If we understand:
• What was done to us,
• How we were delegitimized,
• How our resistance was criminalized,
…then we must also understand when it’s being done to others.
Iran is not our enemy. Palestine is not our enemy. Yemen is not our enemy.
Western ideology which dehumanizes us is.
Conclusion: Solidarity Is Our Legacy
From Haiti to Harlem, from Soweto to Selma, Black freedom movements have always been connected by one truth:
Oppressed people must stand together, or fall alone.
We cannot demand justice here and ignore injustice abroad.
We cannot fight racism in America and support racism overseas.
If we are to be free, truly free, we must oppose all forms of domination; foreign and domestic.
And that starts with rejecting the West’s language of dehumanization, its wars, and its lies.
