AT THE WALL: SUMUD Mural

​There's a wall in Oakland that's been holding it down for two years. Thursday night, the collective holds it up. It stands on 26th Street, painted across a working auto body shop parking lot and in conversation with murals across the street. It’s called SUMUD: Resistance Until Liberation Mural. Sumud is an Arabic word meaning the steadfast will to survive, endure, and remain connected to the land. This incredible multi-org, multi-artist collaboration inspires us to think deeply about Indigenous, Black, and Palestinian liberation as interdependent. As Alive. We knew we wanted to celebrate the stewards, caretakers, and artists of these movements here at this site. About the mural itself, the makers say,

​The SUMUD: Resistance Until Liberation mural project is a collaboration between artists and activists in the U.S. and Palestine that explores and confronts the deep interconnections between the brutal systems of imprisonment in the U.S. and Palestine. The mural serves as a demonstration of the Palestinian Liberation Movement’s vibrancy and a memorialization of this historical moment in our struggle globally and locally.

​We begin in circles on the concrete, small groups devising and building performances from their own stories underscored by live music from local artists. Circles of grief, belonging, power, and pain bring us together, because solidarity is a thing we make with our bodies in spaces where nothing is meant to grow.

​Live music, art shares, street food, vendors. Bring your people, stay for the celebration and the dancing. Learn more about SUMUD: Resistance Until Liberation here and about the Liberation Wall, co-created by our partners Sogorea Te’ Land Trust here.