Oakland vigil honors Palestinian children killed in Gaza

Oakland vigil honors Palestinian children killed in Gaza Oakland residents read children's names and gathered throughout faiths.

Key points

• Monica C., another vigil organizer and a member of First Presbyterian Church Palo Alto and Christians for a Free Palestine, remarked the project uses documented names.
• Lydia Koehm, Oak Life Church member and vigil organizer, remarked the church partnered with different faith groups connected with the Oakland People's Arms Embargo.
• Organizers remarked the Oakland shroud lists the names of 300 13-year-old children killed in Gaza.
• "All these 13-year-olds have all been martyred, " remarked Donna Johnke, a vigil organizer and member of Oak Life Church.
• Regarding three dozen residents gathered at Snow Park near Lake Merritt on Aug.

Regarding three dozen residents gathered at Snow Park near Lake Merritt on Aug. 30 to honor Palestinian children killed during Israel's war on Gaza.

Participants sat or stood in concentric semicircles facing an altar covered with part of the Gaza Children's Shroud, an international memorial project. They quietly recited children's names and listened to prayers from multiple faiths.

Organizers remarked the Oakland shroud lists the names of 300 13-year-old children killed in Gaza. The handwritten names covered a sizeable white cloth draped throughout a table extending toward grass beneath a coast live oak tree.

"All these 13-year-olds have all been martyred, " remarked Donna Johnke, a vigil organizer and member of Oak Life Church. It the event. "They've been killed by the Israeli administration and our bombs. So, what we're trying to do is to shine a light on that."

Notably, the Gaza Children's Shroud project uses individual names to memorialize children killed in Gaza. The project, according to its website, was inspired by a memorial in Italy. Priests Against Genocide and Doctors Against Genocide initiated this movement.

Meanwhile, the temporary altar held objects that organizers remarked children enjoy and should have access to, such as books, pens and pencils, a hairbrush and hair ties, a toy car, plastic building blocks, and a kite. Israel lately threatened to expel Palestinians for flying kites in Gaza.

Organizers remarked the white cloth evokes Islamic janazah burial practices, in which the dead are wrapped in shrouds before burial.

In practice, the Oakland shroud was part of a larger U.S. Project. Organizers stitched all the panels together and displayed at the United Nations (UN) Church Center in New York City on Sept. 16. It will be taken to Washington DC afterwards this month.

"I think what's really been powerful about this is that statistics are so numbing, " Monica remarked. "I think seeing people connecting to a single name and thinking, 'I know a thirteen-year-old' or 'I know someone going into 7th grade' and just connecting to that name and that child who has been lost is really what we're hoping for."

Notably, the vigil created a place for individuals to gather and grieve, Monica stated, and remind folks who are aware but not active to take action.

"There's more pressure that's needed, " Monica remarked. "Human, community pressure is needed to make a change."

Katharine Davies Samway has lived in Oakland for over 35 years. She is a long-term educator – a teacher, a researcher, a teacher educator, a professor of education.

High rates and underused services undermine Oakland's fight against illegal dumping By Saida Nor.

Oakland residents face high trash rates. Auditors discovered underused disposal services and resources.

In short, oakland vigil honors Palestinian children killed in Gaza is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.