As one of the largest eviction defense organizations in California, the East Bay Community Law Center knows intimately how devastating evictions are on communities, neighborhoods, families, and children. Every day, we reckon with how present-day law enforcement upholds the legacy of state sponsored housing discrimination.
Thus, it is incumbent upon us to unequivocally condemn the violent, racist displacement and dispossession that has taken place for decades in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem and across the Occupied Territories. In the past few weeks, we have watched with a sense of tragedy and travesty as the Israeli courts, militarized police, and right-wing extremists have empowered self-proclaimed Israeli property owners in openly discriminatory ways. We know that this is not a private civil dispute, and that there is inherent violence in being made homeless, there is inherent violence in race-based displacement. There is inherent violence in an apartheid legal system.
We mourn the overwhelming loss of life, including the destruction of refugee camps, places of worship, schools, hospitals, and media organizations. We are outraged that this is the consequence for Palestinians defending the sanctity of their homes.
Today, on the birthdays of Malcolm X and Yuri Kochiyama, and as a women of color led organization serving primarily women of color, we rise up in solidarity with Palestine. We also remember Malcolm X’s testimony, “You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.” We wish for a Free Palestine and its ensuing peace.