Action Alert: Tell Alicia Keys to Boycott Apartheid and Cancel Her Concert!

In two days, Alicia Keys is going to be performing in Tel Aviv, Israel despite calls from activists and organizations worldwide urging her to heed the Palestinian call for boycott. 

Take action now and tweet to Alicia Keys: It is apartheid. Don't be on the wrong side of history. Boycott Israel!  
Yesterday a group of African American academics, artists, clergy, and activists, including Angela Davis and actress LisaGay Hamilton, released a statement reaffirming parallels between Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and discrimination against African Americans living under Jim Crow in the United States. The statement was issued to support Alice Walker, who came under attack for using this analogy in an interview andopen letter calling on Keys to cancel her concert.

Alice's letter was one of manycalling on Alicia to cancel. Given Alicia's important work for children affected with HIV, Defence for Children International Palestinewrote to her explaining how Israel mistreats Palestinian children and why she as a children's rights advocate should also stand up for Palestinian kids. The US Campaign’s letter to Keys, which was endorsed by more than 50 organizations across the country, urged her to respect the boycott so Israel does not use her decision to whitewash its oppression of Palestinians. 
More than 15,500 people have signed the petition asking her to cancel, which was delivered last month to the New York office of her charity Keep a Child Alive by US Campaign Steering Committee member Andrew Kadi and others. Several media outlets have already covered the campaign including MSNBC's The Grio, USA Today, and BET. 
Alicia’s response so far has been: “I look forward to my first visit to Israel. Music is a universal language that is meant to unify audiences in peace and love, and that is the spirit of our show."
Let her know that due to Israeli oppression and restrictions, the vast majority of Palestinians will be unable to join her in Tel Aviv as part of her efforts to unify audiences. 
Tweet Now! If you use your own tweets, make sure to include #AKFAM and tweet to @aliciakeys, @IDTweeps, and @keepachildalive. 

• Hey @aliciakeys It is apartheid. Don't be on the wrong side of history. Boycott Israel! cc @IDTweeps #AKFAM (Tweet Now)

• Videos: Activists around the world to @aliciakeys: Playing in Israel is entertaining apartheid cc @IDTweeps #AKFAM (Tweet Now)

• African Americans Affirm the Jim Crow analogy in Palestine/Israel @aliciakeys @IDTweeps @keepachildalive #AKFAM (Tweet Now)

You can find more sample tweets here.
Take a 30-second video on your phone, computer, or camera telling her why she should respect the BDS call and post it to the "Alicia Keys: Don't be Fallin for Apartheid, Cancel Israel" Facebook page. Examples here. 

Post comments on Alicia's Facebook page linking to the letter "African Americans Affirming the Jim Crow analogy in Palestine/Israel" or the videos of activists asking her to cancel. 
Check out all the actions and developments that have happened already around this campaign here. 
Even if Alicia chooses to go forth with her concert, this is a great opportunity to do some general education around boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS), and to let her fans know why she is being asked to cancel. 

Thanks for taking action!

                                                        

                                                 
Ramah Kudaimi                                        
Membership and Outreach Coordinator

P.S.--If you would like to take part in future Twitter actions, please sign up here! We will let you know all the details when an action is coming up, including sample tweets to use.