25 Oct Youth Lead Pro-Palestine Vigil at Unity Park

A group of youth hold candles as they listen to a speech during a pro-Palestine youth vigil at Unity Park in Richmond on Oct. 20.

Story and photos by Denis Perez-Bravo

A pro-Palestine vigil drew about a hundred demonstrators at Unity Park in Richmond on Oct. 20 to show solidarity with the people of Gaza.

Israel and Hamas, the militant group that controls the Gaza strip, have been at war since the latter launched attacks and took hostages Oct. 7. Strikes from both sides have killed thousands of Palestinians and Israelis, CNN reports.

“This is not an issue that is far from us,” Oakland poet Aniya Butler said in a speech to those assembled in Richmond.

Butler was one of youth speakers from the four organizing teams of the event: Youth Vs. Apocalypse, Communities for a Better Environment, RYSE Center and Asian Pacific Environmental Network.

Butler condemned U.S. foreign assistance in Israel and called on the audience to do all they could to disrupt this financial aid.

In 2022, the U.S. sent over $3.3 billion to Israel, $8 million of which went to the Israel economy. The bulk of the aid — more than $3.39 billion — went to Israel’s military, according to USAFacts.org. Since the end of World War II, the U.S. has given nearly $318 billion in aid to Israel, according to USAFacts, and over 86% of yearly U.S. aid has funded Israeli military efforts. (Israel was established as a state in 1948.)

Butler said that U.S police forces, funded by American taxpayers, visit Israel to learn abusive police techniques that are used to oppress Indigenous and Black and Brown people. “This is why we must understand the fight against Israeli occupation (of Palestine) is connected to our struggle for abolition,” Butler said. “The fight against Israeli occupation is connected to our struggle for collective liberation.”

Such claims about the U.S. and Israeli police have been criticized by pro-Israel groups in the U.S.

“Seeking to link Israel as a state to U.S. police misconduct is a bizarre excuse for the centuries-long history of racism and injustice that has been part of American history, really since our founding,” George Selim of the Anti-Defamation League, which has ran programs sending American officers to Israel for training, was quoted as saying in 2020.

Many of those gathered at the speeches held lit candles. Others held up signs. Also, an art build was held to encourage participants towards activism.

Participants painted banners and posters. Asian Pacific Environmental Network youth organizer Katherine Lee had buttons made to pass out. Green, red, white and black, the colors of the Palestinian flag, were seen in different artworks created under the pergola at Unity Park.

Lee said there has been a lot of movement in Bay Area cities like San Francisco, San Jose and Berkeley in support of Palestine.

“We really wanted to do something here for our youth and community that live in Richmond so that our young people can come to the vigil and feel connected and safe,” Lee said.

Although the event was aimed at Richmond youth, people of all ages came out in support.

Fatimah Abughannam, 37, traveled to Richmond’s Unity Park from Fairfield. “I love the idea of actually providing blank paper so that people can create what they want to say in their hearts,” she said.

Abughannam is a U.S.-born Palestinian American. Her father’s side of her family is from Palestine.

“Coming out here, I am standing with my sisters and brothers in Palestine,” she said.