Statement on Palestine from the Resource Centers at University of California, Santa Cruz

STATEMENT ON PALESTINE
From the Resource Centers at University of California, Santa Cruz

African American Resource & Cultural Center
American Indian Resource Center
Asian American/Pacific Islander Resource Center
El Centro: Chicanx Latinx Resource Center
Lionel Cantú Queer Resource Center
Womxn’s Center

The Resource Centers at UCSC carefully considered the importance and impact of making a
statement on the violence unfolding in Palestine, we reflected on and discussed how we could
most effectively support students. We asked ourselves and one another difficult and necessary
questions, and made intentional connections with students in the Palestinian, SWANA, and
Muslim communities. We move this statement forward with the hope to offer words of genuine
support and to encourage meaningful dialogue. With our core values rooted in social justice,
solidarity and community, we can both support Palestinian people, name and call out
disproportional violence they have experienced at the hands of the military in Israel, while
simultaneously being steadfast in our total rejection of antisemitism and any anti-semitic
remarks in response to these timely, overdue, and necessary discussions.

We want students, staff, and faculty affected by violence in Palestine to know you are validated, we are in solidarity with you, and honor acts of resistance in Palestine. The generational and recent clashes between Palestine and Isreal builds on the compounding trauma that we've experienced in the past year, with an adverse impact on students whose diasporas are traced to this part of the world and have watched as the recent violent attacks by Israeli military forces have claimed the lives of over 200 people, including 61 children in Gaza*. We mourn all loss of life.

The disproportional involvement of the U.S and other western powers in this region calls us to examine this struggle from a lens of colonialism and name it as such. The ongoing and aggressive displacement of the Palestinian peoples underscores this truth, and also connects the struggles of Palestinians to Indigenous and Native communities in the Us and around the world, who are far too familiar with similar cycles of settler colonialism. The Resource Centers at UCSC are unified in our desire for peace and justice everywhere.

The Resource Centers offer counter spaces, provide resources and opportunities for connection, conversation and critical dialogues. We partnered with centers and staff across UC campuses to sponsor a series of events, "Perspectives on Palestine: A UC Faculty Teach-In," and offered an intimate space intended for Palestinian, Muslim, and/or Arab identifying students, staff and faculty, to process as a community. We will continue to offer programs in the next academic year. In addition to the Southwest Asian/North African (SWANA) Retention Specialist, all our staff are available for support and welcome your engagement. Do not hesitate to reach out to us even during the summer months. Staff contact information can be found at https://resourcecenters.ucsc.edu. You are not alone. We are here for you. 

*New York Times, May 17, 2021