After members of the New Paltz Socialists and organizers advertised their AAPI Rally Against White Supremacy on the New Paltz Community Facebook page, two community members expressed that they would not be attending because of an organizer’s affiliation with Black Hammer.
“I hear that you are working with someone from Black Hammer,” one commenter who would like to remain anonymous wrote. “They’re an antisemitic [organization] that trivializes the Holocaust. I gladly support Black-Asian solidarity against white supremacy, but no union with antisemites.”
Black Hammer is a revolutionist organization against colonialism. Their mission “is to use our collective building power to unite, strengthen and liberate all colonized nations” under the leadership of colonized poor and working class people, their website states.
Black Hammer was founded by Gazi Kodzo, and has been described as the “leader of the anti-white revolution,” according to the Black Hammer website.
During April of last year Kodzo, the organization’s commander-in-chief, tweeted anti-semitic remarks about Anne Frank calling her a Becky, a Karen and a Colonizer. The organization defended these tweets and launched a media campaign called #2BFrank.
“The white left (KKKomunists) and their sellout lackeys cried crocodile tears over Chief Gazi’s tweets, calling him an anti-Semite or reactionary,” the organization wrote in their post on #2BFrank.
In their tweets, Kodzo expresses frustration that the story of Anne Frank is taught in schools while genocides against Black people and people of color (POC) have gone ignored.
“Genocide wasn’t even a WORD until the WHITE ON WHITE CRIME of the Holocaust,” Kodzo tweeted on April 30, 2020. “In 1949! THOUSANDS of African and Colonized tribes WIPED OUT OF EXISTENCE! MILLIONS OF NAMELESS GIRLS KILLED due to EUROPEAN Colonialism for 500 years and NO WORD to define it UNTIL it happened to Anne!”
The organizer of the AAPI rally whose association with Black Hammer prevented some in the Jewish community from attending the rally is a New Paltz community member who goes by the name Katari Sisa.
From the comments, it was at first unclear which of the organizers was also a member of Black Hammer. When The Oracle reached out, the anonymous commenter confirmed that they were talking about Sisa.
Sisa is an Agitation Propaganda Coordinator and a founder of the New Paltz Socialists. They also serve as a chief coordinator of social media for Black Hammer. There is no Black Hammer chapter located in New Paltz, but Sisa is part of a chapter in New York City.
When The Oracle reached out for comment, Sisa described Black Hammer’s #2BFrank campaign as just being a “bad media ploy.”
“As an organization that wants to organize and unify all oppressed groups, this does not align with our revolutionary vision,” they wrote in a statement to The Oracle. “Just like we support other colonized peoples’ struggles we want Jewish comrades to know we can wage that same struggle together. ”
But on April 30, 2020, Sisa posted on their personal Facebook page support for the #2BFRank campaign, making the campaign logo their profile picture and writing a post in support.
“In case you were wondering, I fully support this message,” they wrote. “As a colonized person I never even got the chance to acknowledge or mourn my peoples genocide never mind reparations or seeing anyone give a sh*t where it made a material difference.”
The anonymous source said that some local advocacy organizations are cutting ties with the New Paltz Socialists because of their connection with Sisa. However, this cannot be confirmed because the organizations mentioned did not respond to our request for comment in time for this article’s publication.