FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 12, 2025
Press Contacts:
Joshua Stickney, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
joshua@ellabakercenter.org, 405-315-4151
Ella Baker Center Speaks Out to Protect Immigrant Communities in the Face of State Violence in Los Angeles
“We will not be silent while our communities are terrorized — again”
OAKLAND — In response to recent disturbing events in Southern California with immigrants being targeted and apprehended by ICE, as well as the people-powered protests that were met with state violence, Marlene Sanchez, Executive Director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, released the following statement:
“Our hearts are with every family living in fear, every community forced to endure this brutality, every protester walking side-by-side in solidarity with immigrant communities. We will not stand by while parents are torn from their children, while workers are ripped from their jobs, while our neighbors are targeted in broad daylight and disappeared by ICE. This is not truly about safety. This is about creating fear, control, and punishment. This is an attack on all working families and communities. We will not be silent while our communities are terrorized — again.
“As a proud daughter of immigrants, I come from people who have resisted poverty, resisted criminalization, and resisted invisibility. Their journey isn’t just about seeking opportunity, it was about demanding dignity. I carry their fight in my bones and I bring that same commitment to justice, dignity, and liberation to everything I do at the Ella Baker Center.
“This week in the Fruitvale — a diverse, thriving immigrant community — we came together and held space for healing, resistance, community, and action in the face of state-sanctioned violence. We hold space for our neighbors, families, children, and workers who are scared and suffering right now. We can and will continue to show up to mourn with, share with, and protect our community.
“Like our shero Ella Baker, who organized the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee to challenge racial segregation and discrimination, we recognize the power of community. We know that we need each other to build real change. We choose community care over fear. We choose solidarity over silence. We choose justice and liberation over authoritarianism.
“To those impacted by recent ICE raids and state violence at various protests, we see you. We grieve with you. We pray with you. With unwavering resolve, we commit to protecting one another. Because our liberation is collective, and no one should live in fear for simply existing. We stand with you until we are all free.”
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For over twenty-seven years, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights has advanced people-powered campaigns for racial and economic justice — and we are winning. Named after civil rights hero Ella Baker, we shift resources away from prisons and punishment towards opportunities that make our communities safe, healthy, and strong. ellabakercenter.org