Dear Sudoroom members and leaders,

For the past 2.5 years I’ve been a Sudoroom “member” (I say this in quotations because I’ve been paying dues and attending but have never been endorsed as a full fledged member), but I’d like to make a proposal that Sudoroom become an Apartheid Free Community!

I am writing as a member of SURJ Bay Area’s Palestine Solidarity Campaign. As a racial justice organization, SURJ believes it is our moral obligation to demand an end to Israel’s system of apartheid, its genocide in Gaza, and its increasing violent seizure of land in the West Bank. All this is paid for by our tax dollars, with the U.S. directly funding the Israeli government to the tune of $35 billion a year. 

We invite Sudoroom to join us to support the Palestinian people’s human rights, lives, and lands by taking the pledge to become an Apartheid-Free Community.

Apartheid is a crime against humanity. As defined by the United Nations, apartheid includes:

• Acts such as murder, torture, inhuman treatment, and arbitrary arrest of members of a racial group

• Deliberate imposition upon the subjugated racial group of living conditions calculated to cause its physical destruction

• Legislative measures that discriminate in the political, social, economic, and cultural fields

We could fill pages with examples of how Israel’s treatment of Palestinians meets this criteria—from arrests and imprisonment without charges to the destruction of Gaza by bombing homes, hospitals, and schools and cutting off food, water, electricity and medical supplies. Palestinians are subjected to entirely different laws and judicial systems, without freedom of movement and economic opportunities.

Inspired by the anti-apartheid movement that helped topple the white supremacist regime in South Africa, the Apartheid-Free Communities Campaign is bringing communities together to end apartheid in Israel/Palestine. We encourage Sudoroom to join the over 500 organizations across the globe, including cities, schools, faith-based communities, labor unions, businesses, and organizations, in taking the pledge to become an Apartheid-Free Community. 

Signing the Pledge makes a difference! It reflects public support to our elected officials when we press them to divest from Israeli violence. It reduces harm to Palestinian and Arab members of our community. It challenges the official narratives and expands the public consciousness around Palestine.  We ask that you sign this pledge, and take actions, in whatever way makes sense to Sudoroom, to be part of this effort.

Be sure to let me know if you have any questions and how I can support your Sudoroom in signing the Pledge and joining this campaign. 

In Solidarity,

Lo