#SayHerName: Charleena Lyles. Nabra Hassanen. Josie Berrios.

Left to right: Charleena Lyles, Nabra Hassanen & Josie Berrios.

We as SURJ Bay Area are deeply saddened, horrified, and outraged by the recent murders of three women of color across the U.S. We honor and uplift their names: 
Charleena Lyles.
Nabra Hassanen.
Josie Berrios.

At the root of these murders is white supremacist hetero-patriarchy, which has always been the foundation of the United States and U.S. imperialism abroad. Women of color, particularly Black women, have born and continue to bear the brunt of the violence perpetuated by this system.

There are many more missing and murdered Black women, Muslim women, and trans women of color—like Charleena, Nabra, and Josie—whose names and stories we do not know because of the devaluation, invisibilization, and dehumanization of these women.

It is unacceptable for us, especially as white people who struggle for racial justice, to allow this genocidal violence to be normalized. “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” --Audre Lorde, A Burst of Light, 1988

As white people organizing for racial justice, we must refuse complicity in this violent white supremacist hetero-patriarchal system. We must continue to follow the leadership of Black women and women of color and understand the connections between race, gender, and sexuality. We must refute the falsehoods perpetuated by the mainstream media that blame victims of racist violence and attempt to justify their murders. We must challenge elected officials, both local and national, who not only condone but actively promote hate speech, vigilante violence, police terror, Islamophobia, racism and white supremacy.

We must continue to support efforts to defund and de-militarize police, such as the Anti Police-Terror Project's campaign to #DefundOPD as well as the Stop Urban Shield Coalition's efforts to de-militarize local police departments. We must offer our support to organizations like TGI Justice Project, who provide much needed resources to low income trans women of color, both currently and formerly incarcerated.

We must continue to show up for racial justice.
Here are ways you can show up today for these three women and their families.

Please share widely:

• Donate to the family of Charleena Lyles
• Donate to the family of Nabra Hassanen
• Donate to the family of Josie Berrios
• Show up to rally and remember their lives in Oakland on Friday night
• Vigil for Nabra Hassanen in Oakland on Tuesday night
• Download and put up this poster

In struggle,
SURJ Bay Area