|
By Felicia Gustin It’s one of the largest county jails in the United States and larger than most California prisons. Santa Rita Jail, located in Dublin, California, also has one of the highest rates of in-custody deaths for county jails in the state. In 2017, one such victim, 23-year-old father Dujuan Armstrong, was only meant to serve a weekend at Santa Rita, but he never came home, killed by sheriff deputies while in custody. In Dujuan’s honor, the Anti Police-Terror Project (APTP), a Black-led Oakland-based coalition, began providing material support to folks being released from the jail as “a small but meaningful way to address the harm caused by incarceration in our community.”  Tables with free food and drinks and bins with free clothing set up on a Friday night in front of the Santa Rita Jail sign. Photo by Mack Boyle. As APTP explains on their website, “We show up at the gates when our people are released from custody—offering warmth, resources, and connection…We believe no one should walk out of jail alone.” Derrick Benson, APTP’s Family Resource Coordinator, manages the jail support program. He knows first-hand what incarceration is like, having served time himself. “I have a personal stake because I have been personally impacted,” he tells me. Derrick emphasizes the significance of coming out of jail and being greeted by a group of people who offer hot drinks, snacks, warm clothes, and a friendly smile. “When you get out, it’s a feeling that’s indescribable, but when you’re met with compassion and resources, you’re given hope, even when you’re not a hopeful person.” APTP’s jail support has drawn volunteers from several organizations including SURJ Bay Area. Mack Boyle, who works with SURJ’s Palestine Solidarity Campaign, recently began volunteering on Friday nights. “A lot of my organizing has been political education, facilitation, building the world we want to live in, but I hadn’t been involved in a mutual aid effort like this before.”
Mack says volunteering for jail support has been a transformative experience. “The solidarity model of mutual aid, the understanding that we are extensions of each other—it’s deeply humbling and feels like I’m practicing my values of abolition in a real way that has high impact as people are being released from a cage. And in that moment, you are offering someone dignity and being seen when, for them, it might feel like one of the most shameful moments of their life.”
Longtime volunteer Lew Williams agrees. “For us, greeting people with warmth and supplies can be deeply satisfying. It's a way for us to act in an immediate, concrete, personal way to put our abolitionist values in action.” Lew has been doing Santa Rita jail support for several years and serves as SURJ’s point person for the program. While APTP has been providing the food and clothing, Lew has been drumming up SURJ volunteers. Lew emphasizes that it’s easy for folks to get involved. “There’s often just a brief orientation on Zoom. We also partner volunteers with someone who has done jail support before. There’s no long-term commitment required.” “It’s a low-lift, high-impact opportunity. Just hop in the car and go,” replies Mack when asked what they would say to someone considering volunteering. “It’s easy – you’re just hanging out, talking to people, being a warm, friendly face, providing folks with food and clothes for the night. It’s a way to practice the care we want to have with each other.” But as Mack points out, it goes even deeper. “The reciprocity for me is the connection, the shared humanity. Just talking to someone right after they’ve been released, about where they’re heading, about their family and kids, whatever their story is—I think about all of these humans and all of their stories.” Jail support is a powerful program for people at the end of a dehumanizing experience. Mack adds, “It just reminds me that every human is a whole universe, a whole galaxy, with so many stories. It’s an opportunity to just provide folks with love and care no matter what the hell happened to them, to provide them with a little shared humanity, connection, and dignity.” Interested in volunteering for jail support? Email [email protected] and put Jail Support in the subject line. A SURJ member will be in touch. Interested in helping to keep the jail support program going? In these challenging economic times, APTP needs money and supplies to continue providing resources for jail support. There are 2 concrete ways you can help: 1. Make a donation – every dollar helps! If you donate via Venmo or PayPal, then you can specify it’s for jail support. Or you can donate to APTP here. 2. Donate to the clothing drive – Drop off new or gently-used sweatpants, hoodies, beanies, hygiene kits, or new socks and underwear at The People’s House, 893 Willow Street, Oakland, from 3:00–7:00 pm on Mondays and 1st and 3rd Fridays. SURJ Bay Area joins 500+ congregations and communities in pledge to become “Apartheid-Free”3/21/2025
Today, March 21st 2025, SURJ Bay Area joins with communities all over the world to mark an important milestone: over 500 congregations and organizations have taken a pledge declaring themselves “apartheid-free.” Pledge signers commit to cut ties with Israel’s apartheid regime against Palestinians and to oppose all forms of racism, bigotry, discrimination, and oppression. These 500+ groups represent hundreds of thousands of constituents and include congregations, faith communities, solidarity organizations, non-profits, student organizations, veterans’ groups, businesses, and even municipalities. A map and full list of apartheid-free communities can be found here.
“We at SURJ Bay Area took the Apartheid-Free pledge because we stand unequivocally against racism in all its forms—including Israeli apartheid, military occupation, and settler colonialism. By taking the Apartheid-Free Pledge, we reaffirm our commitment to Palestinian freedom, recognizing that the struggle against oppression anywhere is a struggle for collective liberation everywhere.” For decades, the Palestinian people have faced Israeli occupation and systematic human rights abuses. Apartheid is defined under international law as a legally enforced system of separation and oppression based on race, creed, or ethnicity. Palestinian human rights groups have described Israel’s policies as apartheid for decades. Over the past few years, much of the international human rights community – including B’tselem, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International – have also joined the call for an end to Israeli apartheid. The Apartheid-Free campaign originated in 2022 when an interdenominational coalition of faith groups in North America, convened by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), came together to organize the pledge. SURJ Bay Area joined this campaign in 2024. “The fact that more than 500 congregations, organizations, and businesses have come together to end Israeli apartheid fills me with hope,” said Noor Nabulsi, Apartheid-Free Communications Specialist for AFSC. “These groups represent hundreds of thousands of people from many different places, faiths, and walks of life. What we share is a belief that collectively we are growing the anti-apartheid movement and making it a 21st century issue.” Each community that signs the pledge commits to resisting apartheid and all forms of racism and discrimination, but this looks different in every community. It can include community education, political advocacy, divestment, protest, organizing ballot measures, or creative projects. For us at SURJ, that has looked like joining local divestment efforts here in the Bay Area, and talking to the public at Oakland Farmers Markets about taking action against Israeli apartheid. Learn more at https://apartheid-free.org/ Mass Deportation Is Unjust and Harmful to All Americans by Regie Stites  People hold up handmade signs reading, "Immigrants Make America Great" and "NO HATE NO FEAR / Refugees are welcome here!" - Photo by Nitish Meena In her first press conference, Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, repeated a vicious lie to justify one of the cruelest presidential priorities in American history. She said millions of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. must be deported because they have all broken U.S. law and are therefore “criminals.” This is a lie.
An article on the press conference in Axios pointed out that violation of U.S. immigration policies is a civil, not a criminal offense. According to the article: “There is no law making it a crime to live in the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant.” Words and photos by Anna Blackshaw As the eyes of the world have been on Gaza, violence in the West Bank has been escalating to near record levels. According to a report by the United Nations Works and Relief Agency (UNWRA), 40,000 Palestinians in the West Bank have been displaced by Israeli forces in just the first two months of 2025, making this the largest displacement of civilians since 1967. These forced removals occur alongside the highest rates of Israeli settler terrorism in the West Bank in over two decades. Palestinian shepherds are attacked while grazing their sheep, families are chased out of their homes at gunpoint, homes and cars are set on fire, sewage is dumped into wells and springs, olive trees are burned down (at a rate of 25,000 trees in 2024 alone), and rampages through villages keep families on alert day and night.  The olive tree is a powerful symbol of peace, resilience, and steadfastness for Palestinians. Its deep roots and ability to withstand harsh conditions reflect the endurance and perseverance of the Palestinian people. Cultivated in the region for thousands of years, olive trees are deeply embedded in Palestinian traditions, cuisine, and daily life, serving as a vital connection to heritage, resistance and identity. by Micki Luckey Microsoft has been a major partner in the genocide in Palestine, confirmed by documents leaked on January 23 that show it stepped up its supply of cloud support and AI for the Israeli military. U.S. tech’s support for Israel is nothing new. But a new application of tech came to public attention on September 17 last year with the simultaneous explosion of thousands of pagers owned by Hezbollah fighters. They and the explosions in hand-held radios the next day were targeted by Israeli intelligence to decapitate Hezbollah, the only organized force that had defeated them in battle. Deployment of exploding personal communication devices can only be described as an act of terrorism.  AI generated photograph of a pager surrounded by flaming debris. By Paul Kivel In her book Allies for Armageddon: The Rise of Christian Zionism Victoria Clark writes, “One has to look back as far as the Crusades to find another example of such a large group of outsiders involving themselves in the Middle East on a religious pretext….” Clark is describing the history and power of Christian Zionism. In the last two centuries, the creation of and continuing support for the state of Israel was substantially determined by ruling class Christian Zionists, first in Britain and more recently in the U.S. Today Christian Zionists lobby for pro-Israeli expansionist policies, provide a tremendous amount of direct financial support to Israel, coordinate a large pro-Israel, anti-Palestinian constituency, and give direct aid to illegal settlements in the West Bank.  Crusaders of the First Crusade (11th Century) on their way to Jerusalem are portrayed in a stained-glass window located in the cathedral of Brussels that was created in 1866. iStock photo by Jorisvo. By Micki Luckey Can you imagine living on 2-3 liters (roughly 2-3 quarts) of water a day? That was the average water consumed daily by a person living in Gaza before they were hit by even worse conditions under the on-going Israeli bombardments. During its 75 year long occupation of Palestine, Israel has used many different strategies to force the Palestinians from their land. Controlling the water supply throughout the area has been one specific and effective weapon Israel continues to use to bolster its own development and to displace Palestinians. Before October 7th, 2023, Gazans were spending a third of their income on water and regularly mixed the water from the tap with sea water to make it go farther. The lack of clean drinking water had already made 25% of children in Gaza susceptible to gastric ailments and other diseases. As part of their retaliation for October 7, Israeli forces increased their targeting of the water infrastructure in Gaza. By November 2023 Israeli attacks had disrupted the sources (desalination plants, pipelines and wells) of all but 5% of Gaza’s water. So now Gazans face “heightened health and environmental risks owing to limited access to clean water.” Today people in Gaza are forced to drink polluted seawater.  This booth appeared at a 2024 Palestinian solidarity gathering. A person wearing a Netanyahu mask was promoting GAZA SPRINGS Sewage and Seawater with the ad, “A Taste of Genocide”. https://gazasprings.com/ photo by author. By Eve Higby and Micki Luckey During the nine months of Israel’s unrelenting war, the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) has continued to deliver food to people in Gaza. To raise funds to support this work, MECA held its Third Annual Ride for Palestine this past Sunday, July 21st. The need for aid is especially urgent: Israeli bombardments have caused massive displacements, and the Israeli government has blocked the entry of food. Tens of thousands of Palestinian children suffer from severe malnutrition and medical supplies are practically nonexistent, according to a recent UNICEF report. A team of 16 SURJ Bay Area riders joined about fifty other teams in the Ride for Palestine to raise funds for MECA. The event was wildly successful, surpassing MECA’s goals by raising nearly $300,000, and bringing a few hundred people together for Palestinian food, music and dancing in a day of solidarity with Gaza.  Bicyclists ride on the Bay Trail to Richmond CA for the MECA Ride for Palestine. Photo: Team SURJ The recent violence outside the Los Angeles Adas Torah synagogue was immediately met with cries of antisemitism — from President Joe Biden to Governor Gavin Newsom to L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and everyone in between. Why would pro-Palestinian activists protest outside of a synagogue? Most media outlets didn’t ask that question, merely reporting on the violence and thus insuring it would appear like protesters were simply targeting a house of worship. So why were the protesters there?  Image of a sign at a Palestine protest in the shape of a watermelon that reads when you bomb a watermelon, you spread its seeds. Photo by Brooke Anderson @movementphotographer Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa. Reviewed by Micki Luckey. In her beautiful but emotionally challenging novel, Against the Loveless World, Susan Abulhawa captures the insecurity and lack of place experienced by Palestinians in the diaspora and then the building of community and resistance to the occupation inside Palestine. With exquisite descriptions of place, food, events, and people, we follow Yaqoot (also called Nahr) as she moves from Kuwait to Jordan to Palestine.  A panoramic view of the Ramallah hills. Photo by Fjmustak, 2016, Creative Commons |
Find articles
All
Browse by date
May 2025
MEDIUM
|
RSS Feed