Today beginning at 8:30am, our Santa Cruz Community will come together to honor and mourn the more than 18,000 children killed in Gaza during almost three years of Israel’s unrelenting bombardment and starvation of two million people—half of whom are children. With compassion and outrage, community members will read the children’s names throughout the day and evening, beginning 8:30 am through 3:30 pm at the Santa Cruz County Courthouse steps.

A press conference will take place at the Courthouse from 12:00 noon to 1:00pm and the public is invited. Speakers will focus on raising awareness of the devastating impact on Gaza’s children of the largely-U.S. armed and funded military operation, to which our tax dollars contribute. We will learn how our local elected officials have consistently supported what is widely acknowledged to be a genocide.

The Press conference will open with a Native Land Ceremony. Speakers will include Rolla Alyadi, a Monterey County resident and teacher raised in a refugee camp in Gaza, sharing the loss of over 200 family members and reading the names of dead family children; Christine Hong, a UCSC ethnic studies professor and member of Faculty for Justice in Palestine, specifying the complicity of our local elected officials; Rabbi Chel Mandell, speaking from a rabbinical anti-Zionist perspective; Kirsten Juel LCSW and Howla Jardali, Palestine-born retired educator, addressing the catastrophic damage to Gazan children’s physical and mental health and the disruption of their education.

• A 15x15’ Quilt titled Babies in Gaza Who never made It to Their First Birthday -- This Quilt is being sewn by thirty-two community members. Each block will incorporate 20 names. This work-in-progress will be unveiled, following the press conference. To inquire about making a 30” square quilt honoring Gazan babies please contact: coluyaki@gmail.com

• At 4:00pm, A Silent Sidewalk March to the Town Clock will begin at Ocean and Water. Marchers will gather at 3:45pm and are encouraged to wear black and carry a flower. While reading of names continues, marchers stand witness with signs, banners, and flowers.

• At 4:45pm, the silent march continues from the Town Clock to the corner of Pacific and Cooper. Marchers and First Friday strollers will experience the reading of names, alternating with a performance piece—Movement Ceremony: Embody Our Grief from 5:30pm to 7:30pm. At nightfall, scenes from Israel’s genocide and the world’s objections will be projected on a screen while names continue to be read for as long as there are readers!

Invite family and friends to join you for any part of this daylong opportunity to honor and grieve Gaza’s children.

KNOW OUR NAMES will be raising funds to help provide medical care and food through the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, World Central Kitchen and supporting Rolla Alaydi’s campaign to save family members. https://gofund.me/c1637afd.

For more information, contact Sheila Carrillo at escuelita@baymoon.com.

To receive information about local actions for Justice for Palestine, contact: pjcsantacruz@gmail.com