Free Gaza
Statement for our Palestinian sisters and brothers!
Kevin Cooper sent this message and two paintings to an art exhibit that can be viewed online, Art Against Imprisonment,1 a collection of art by Palestinian and international prisoners in solidarity with Palestine.
I’m writing this statement in solidarity with and support of our sisters and brothers in Palestine.
As an oppressed man and a member of a historically oppressed people, it is truly important to me to support all oppressed people in this world who are being denied their universal right to life as well as their basic human rights.
The government of Israel does not want true and lasting peace with Palestine. If it was peace that they wanted, they could have had it a very long time ago. What they want is land, the land of the Palestinian people, and they want it by any means necessary.
Like the Native Americans of this country who had their land stolen from them by oppressors here, the same is happening to our Palestinian sisters and brothers over there.
As the oppressed African Americans over here are being shot and murdered by the police for any reason and for no reason at all, the same is being done to the people of Palestine by the police and military over there.
As the people of South Africa once lived in a state of apartheid, our sisters and brothers in Palestine are living in those same inhumane conditions. They live in a caste system built and maintained by the oppressive government of Israel—just as the people in India, called the untouchables, are living in that type of caste system.
Palestinians are forced to live, against their will, in the world’s largest open prison called the Gaza strip, yet they keep their dignity, their self-respect and will to live intact. And, like the Native Americans, African Americans, people of South Africa and most oppressed people in the history of the world—they fight back against their oppressors!
The willingness to fight and to die in order to live free from oppression is an inspiration to all oppressed people, no matter where they are.
They stood by us in Ferguson after the murder of Mike Brown and in all other times when we needed their support. One of our greatest warrior queens to ever fight for us and them and all oppressed people throughout this, Sister Angela Y. Davis, stated that “Freedom Is a Constant Struggle.” Because this is true, we all must stand with, support and help our sisters and brothers in Palestine.
As for my paintings—“Free Gaza” speaks for itself, and Bob Marley was a human rights activist who used his powerful music to fight for human rights!
Kevin Cooper is an innocent man on San Quentin’s Death Row in California. He continues to struggle for exoneration and to abolish the death penalty in the whole U.S. Learn more about his case at: www.kevincooper.org
Write to:
Kevin Cooper #C-65304 4-EB-82
San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin, CA 94974
1 Art Against Imprisonment