The undersigned Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) organizations across the West coast express their solidarity with and support for student activism in response to anti-Black racism at the University of Missouri (Mizzou) and other institutions of higher education. Our solidarity and support extends to Jonathan Butler, the student athletes at Mizzou who went on strike, students involved in #ConcernedStudent1950, and all other students who are mirroring this movement and responding to the nation-wide call for action.
As respondents to the call for Palestinian self-determination and full Palestinian social, economic, and political dignity– we recognize that the call for the recognition and fulfillment of these rights extends to all marginalized and disenfranchised peoples, and therefore, we cannot allow ourselves to be complicit in anti-Black racism. As fellow student activists, we fully support the measures taken by the movement of student activists that demand full respect for their dignity.
This nation was founded upon genocide and built upon the backs of slaves and the degradation and dehumanization of Black people. The racist system that this nation was created on is the same racist system that continues to negatively affect our fellow Black students today. Black members of our communities are continually disrespected, stereotyped, unjustifiably suspected, killed, physically and sexually harassed, and institutionally excluded and disenfranchised. It is their bare minimal right to rise up and amplify their voices, demanding respect for their humanity.
For these reasons, we pledge to work to our fullest capacity to stop being complicit in the anti-Black system that disenfranchises our fellow Black students and humans. We respond to the call to dismantle anti-Black racism by addressing it first and foremost in our own lives and activist spaces, in SJP and beyond. We call for full administrative cooperation with the demands of these students and activists. We call for a more serious attitude in response to anti-Black expression– be it microaggressions in classrooms, trivialization of anti-Black racism, or threats of physical harm. We urge our allies and the administrations in all institutions of higher education to take the necessary steps to ensure the full realization of the demands of their Black students and other students and communities of color.
In support,
Students for Justice in Palestine, California State University, Fullerton
Students for Justice in Palestine, Claremont Colleges
Students for Justice in Palestine, San Diego State University
Students for Justice in Palestine, San Jose State University
Students for Justice in Palestine, Santa Clara University
Students for Justice in Palestine, Stanford University
Students for Justice in Palestine, University of California, Berkeley
Students for Justice in Palestine, University of California, Los Angeles
Students for Justice in Palestine, University of California, Irvine
Students for Justice in Palestine, University of California, Riverside
Students for Justice in Palestine, University of California, San Diego
Students for Justice in Palestine, University of California, Santa Barbara
Students for Justice in Palestine, University of California, Santa Cruz
Students for Justice in Palestine, University of Southern California
Students for Justice in Palestine, Whittier College