In this letter to the editor, Students for Justice in Palestine responds to a Facebook group called SJP Uncovered that has made posts critical of the Sacramento State club after The State Hornet reported on its proposal for school entities to divest from companies it finds to be unethical, such as Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase & Co.

To the Editor:

SJP’s mission statement has always been led by the key prospect of being a voice for the voiceless. Our newly reestablished chapter has held firmly onto that drive in which the roots of our club and the organization it belongs to is built on. We are rooted in solidarity for anyone who is disregarded in our world’s current contemporary political climate.

Our club has never discriminated against another club or a group of people for their color, religion, sexualities, beliefs, or ethnicity, nor will we ever stand for that type of discrimination towards our brothers and sisters around us, no matter who they are.

When specifically singling out a tweet made on behalf of a board member who is Muslim, please keep in mind that our club is not a religious one, nor has religion ever been involved in our work here at SJP. Religion has never stopped us nor made us question the groups of people we will be loud for and stand in solidarity with, nor will it ever. Our club’s publications officer has done an exemplary job in his position, and continues to serve the chapter at his utmost capabilities. To clarify, he nor our chapter would never stand against anyone’s existence and rights; what the tweet was stating was a position asking to specifically “keep the Kaaba out of it”, meaning keep his religion out of the debate because it’s unrelated to the issue at hand. Our chapter has nothing to defend, only clarify, and we refuse to allow a hate campaign that has been initiated against us because of our divestment bill to signal out our members for what they believe, and using stances of theirs that are nowhere near involved with SJP or our work. Arguing someone’s religious beliefs when those beliefs have never been and will never be the standard on which SJP runs is a petty move.

To SJP Uncovered

Our divestment bill encompasses causes supporting a great deal of oppressed people everywhere around the world. For our brothers and sisters we asked our institution to divest from Wells Fargo for their heavy investments in private prisons, we asked our institution to divest from Chase Bank for being a primary sponsor of the DAPL, we asked our institution to divest from CAT construction for their role in destroying Palestinian homes on native land and to boycott Sabra Hummus for having companies built on illegal settlements – not to divide our campus, as you claim – but to unite us over a single movement that can ultimately be a crucial micro-level change in achieving the greater good on a larger scale.

All companies mentioned in our divestment bill are complicit in major human rights violations. With our tuition flooding into the school, we the students have a say and a right to protest where our money goes. We did not reach a higher education platform to allow a narrow minded perspective darken our humanity and force us to sit idle as the money we put into our education is invested in human rights violation complicit corporations.

Please realize that our chapter has prepared for this journey from A to Z, well aware of the complications and hateful slurs that will be thrown our way. We stand solid in our grounds by this bill and for its goal and refuse to let anyone undermine our mission. We are confident that with truth, strength, and solidarity, justice will prevail. Until then, we will be working hard for it on campus.

SJP at Sacramento State