The Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR) is in solidarity with all students in the United States exercising their right to freedom of speech to express their support for the freedom and liberation of the Palestinian people. We believe in the power of free speech, civil disobedience, and liberation. We also believe in the unwavering commitment women of color, queer and trans people, immigrants, and young people have towards freedom. The commitment of generations before us has ignited solidarity movements like the one we’re witnessing today.
As a Latine-led reproductive justice organization, we know that throughout history, reproductive and gender violence have been tools of settler colonialism, specifically in places like Puerto Rico, Mexico, and across Latinoamérica. Because of this, we are in solidarity with Palestinians, university students, and organizers fighting for liberation. This week, the Auraria-Gaza solidarity encampment was met with heavy police presence, a stark reminder of militaristic tactics and police brutality used to silence liberation movements. These peaceful student protestors are being portrayed as violently anti-Semitic, even though they are not on encampments to make a case on violence against Jewish people. Instead, student protestors are calling for a ceasefire, an end to the Palestinian genocide, and university divestments from any corporations that operate with Israel.
Because of the work we do at COLOR, we know that BIPOC LGBTQ+ communities are most vulnerable when there’s heavy police presence. Despite constant surveillance and harm, these communities show solidarity when the framework of our moral values is at stake. The majority of the people arrested last week were BIPOC and trans protestors, and many were placed separately from other detainees. COLOR is part of a social movement that recognizes that state-sanctioned violence affects all of us.
The genocide in Palestine is a reproductive justice issue. The impact that genocide has on fertility is detrimental to humankind. There are adverse pregnancy outcomes due to the lack of medical supplies and nutrients; birthing complications, such as premature births and C-sections with no anesthesia; and menstruating individuals who are unable to access the essential resources for their periods. The nature of genocide contributes to reproductive violence. The advancement of the reproductive justice movement cannot happen when the reproductive rights and the freedoms of an ethnic group are being attacked and stripped away. There is no reproductive freedom under occupation. As a reproductive justice organization, we condemn state-sanctioned violence, and we stand in solidarity with Palestinians, student protestors, and organizers.
In Solidarity,
COLOR
