John,

We are witnessing the Israeli apartheid government carry out genocide in Gaza, with support from our government.

Students are putting their bodies on the line to demand their universities divest from weapons manufacturers that are sending bombs to murder innocent children in Gaza. They’re joined by movements of people of all ages and backgrounds coming together to say: Palestinians deserve to live.

Why are lawmakers and the mainstream media more outraged by students opposing genocide and apartheid than they are about the over 35,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza? Why aren’t they outraged about how many U.S. colleges and universities are financially invested in weapons manufacturers and war profiteers?

Instead of listening to students who are non-violently protesting for peace, school administrators are instigating brutal arrests to silence students and take away their First Amendment rights.

It is outrageous that police officers are now entering college campuses across our nation with their guns drawn, targeting students with pepper spray, tear gas, rubber bullets, tasers, and beatings.

Sign now to tell school administrators and university and college boards: Listen to your students demanding you divest from genocide, rather than criminalizing them. Academic institutions are places for learning and discussion, not violent crackdowns on our First Amendment right to free speech.

I’ve met with many students in recent weeks, including from George Washington University in DC and from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Their energy and commitment is inspiring, and they build on a long history of student dissent.

From the civil rights movement to the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, students have always been at the forefront of progress.

Already due to this year’s student protests, multiple U.S. institutions of higher education have agreed to divest or explore divesting from companies connected with Israel’s oppression of Palestinians. Graduate student workers at University of California campuses are beginning to strike, demanding divestment and demanding that the public university system stop cracking down on pro-Palestine protests.

We cannot stand by while our government enables mass slaughter and war crimes. And we cannot stand by as we watch escalating police repression against students protesting that violence by exercising their constitutional rights.

Even the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on the right to education is concerned. She said, “I am deeply troubled by the violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrators, arrests, detentions, police violence, surveillance and disciplinary measures and sanctions against members of the educational community exercising their right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression.”

Sign on now to U.S. college and university administrators: Protect your students and their First Amendment rights. End the repressive tactics against Gaza solidarity encampments, and stop suppressing the very activism, academic freedom, and thoughtful debate that you seek to inspire in your students.

Thank you for standing up for our rights and for the rights of all people.

In solidarity,

Rashida

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Rashida Tlaib
Date: Thu, May 23, 2024
Subject: Sign to demand university administrators stop criminalizing student protests
To: [email protected]

John,

In response to the Israeli military’s attacks on Rafah, hundreds of thousands of people have fled the city. But there is nowhere safe in Gaza to go. While bombing and starving millions of people in Gaza, Israeli forces are also ramping up deadly attacks in the West Bank—including killing children.

Across the United States and the world, students have been protesting to demand their academic institutions and governments stop investing in this anti-Palestinian oppression and violence.

But they’re being met with brutal repression and state-sanctioned violence. For example, police just broke up the peaceful University of Michigan Gaza solidarity encampment, violently arresting and pepper spraying students, some of whom were hospitalized.

It is disgraceful that university administrators and government officials in our country are sending in militarized police forces, and even snipers, to stop students from exercising their First Amendment rights.

Sign on today to demand college and university administrators stop criminalizing student protests and stop suppressing the very debate that academic institutions seek to inspire in their students. We must listen to students demanding an end to genocide, not silence or brutalize them.

From the civil rights movement and beyond, our country has a long history of student activists winning progress.

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit the University of Michigan’s Gaza solidarity encampment on the Diag, an area of campus historically used for student protests. In the 1980s, following student protests for divestment, the state of Michigan passed legislation pushing public colleges and universities to divest from South Africa.

Now, students are peacefully protesting for an end to U.S.-backed atrocities in Palestine, including the destruction of all universities in Gaza. Some students are even renaming buildings after Palestinian children that have been killed.

These students should be listened to and praised for standing up for what they believe in, not vilified, silenced, or made homeless after being banned from campus. No student should be met with academic repercussions or police brutality on their own campuses for peacefully exercising their right to free speech and assembly.

For speaking up about our country’s complicity in human rights violations, more than 3,000 students and faculty have been arrested at Gaza solidarity protests in recent weeks.

Many have been injured and hospitalized from rubber bullets, tear gas, tasing, and brutal beatings from police—including police choking them and wrestling them to the ground. One professor heard from his doctor that he was lucky to be alive.

Please add your name to join the call to U.S. colleges and universities: End the repressive tactics and violent crackdowns on Gaza solidarity encampments. Your students’ constitutional rights don’t end when they enter campus grounds, and you’re supposed to protect them—not endanger them with police brutality.

Thank you for continuing to speak out for justice and equity for all people.

In solidarity,

Rashida