Statement by GW Student Leader of Palestine Group Facing Racist Charges
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B Christopher / Alamy Stock Photo
We are sharing this statement from our client, George Washington University sophomore and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) president Lance Lokas, who was forced to testify in two hearings last Friday, December 2, after he and SJP were falsely charged with damaging a concrete bench outside of Hillel. Lance and SJP believe this is racist retaliation for a postering campaign critical of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.
Attorneys were not allowed to speak at the hearing, but Palestine Legal was able to listen in on Zoom.
At the hearing, 8 witnesses submitted testimony that Lance directed students partaking in the postering campaign to follow all school rules and only posted posters in public areas where permitted by DC law.
PHOTO OF CONCRETE BENCH FROM EVIDENCE IN GW CASE
A student testified that Lance himself only stuck posters in public places. One witness, a member of the Sunrise Movement, testified how when their club used wheatpaste to affix political posters on university property, the group was not charged, nor did it receive any punishment.
This testimony was uncontroverted.
In the hearing, GW brought in Hillel director Adena Kirstein to testify against SJP and Lokas. Kirstein read a prepared statement, which she has since publicized via a mass email, where she claims that Hillel suffered thousands of dollars in damage to its concrete benches from the two fliers affixed with wheat flour and water. Hillel and GW have refused to provide evidence of any such damage, despite repeated requests – as is required by GW policy.
Kirstein refused to answer any questions by Lokas, abruptly leaving the meeting, in violation of school rules.
Read Lance’s opening statement below (edited for clarity and to remove personal details):
Lance Lokas Opening Statement
Before we start the hearing today, I’d like to read out a statement that I prepared.
My name is Lance Lokas and I’m a mixed-race and Arab student at GW majoring in Photojournalism. Since I started at GW, I’ve been involved in organizing against all forms of imperialism and colonialism, particularly around the ongoing violent occupation of Palestine, including with the organization, Students for Justice in Palestine. The ongoing colonization of Palestine is a matter of great importance to me. 74 years of exile from the homeland, the ethnic cleansing of our people, the continued violent campaign of indigenous land theft, the endlessly and unforgivably long and growing list of our martyrs: these issues and the suffering of our people weigh heavily on my mind and my heart each and every day. It is because of this that I joined SJP and this year I took on the role of SJP’s president, which is a position I hold with pride.
Organizing with SJP around what is a key human rights issue of our time has been one of my most rewarding experiences so far on campus. I’ve been able to make friendships and build political solidarity with fellow students of different racial and religious backgrounds who all oppose the genocidal nature and actions of the Zionist settler colony, the violent colonization of Palestine, and US imperialist support for those policies and actions.
Sometime in early October, I saw that Hillel was hosting Doron Tenne, a former high ranking Israeli military officer, at their building on campus. Tenne was a senior commander in the Shin Bet, the Israeli secret service, widely known for torturing Palestinians, blackmailing queer Palestinians into spying on their own community, and other atrocities and human rights violations. Doron Tenne has also held various leadership positions in the IDF from 1987-1999, largely during the First Intifada, a period in which the Israeli armed forces slaughtered over 2,000 Palestinians By inviting him as a celebrated guest, Hillel, GW for Israel, and Mishelanu GW sent a message to the entire community: Palestinian lives are not important here. I knew we had to demonstrate our staunch opposition to the war crimes committed by Tenne, as well as his presence here on our campus.
So SJP did what student groups do all the time to get our message out: We did a postering campaign, and we held a protest. Numerous allied groups and other individuals took part in the campaign, and over 15 people attended the direct action. Both were in full compliance with school rules and DC law, which protects freedom of expression and speech. Specifically, DC law permits postering on public lampposts, and any punishment on the basis of that would violate our free speech rights. Section 108.4 of the DC municipal code states: “Any sign, advertisement, or poster that does not relate to the sale of goods or services may be affixed on public lampposts . . .”
I am told that I am being charged with:
Misconduct Related to Property
Destroying, defacing, damaging, or tampering with the property of others. This includes but is not limited to university property, such as library holdings and residence hall equipment or furnishings.
The evidence today will show with absolute certainty that I did not destroy, deface, damage or tamper with anyone’s property.
As president of SJP I advised everyone taking part in the postering action to only wheatpaste the posters in public, non-campus areas, as is allowed by city law.
I personally only wheatpasted posters on public property, as is allowed by city law.
Neither I nor anyone in SJP wheatpasted on Hillel property.
Wheatpasting is a normal and harmless form of postering (it’s only flour and water) that activist groups often use, as the paste can be easily washed away.
It’s also extremely common to poster on lamp posts and other government property and students and student organizations do that regularly without any consequences from the university.
I have statements from 8 witnesses who will attest to the above.
From the evidentiary packet provided to me, it appears that either the university's DEI office or GW Hillel – one of the organizations whose speaker we were protesting – called the police on our members. And indeed, one of our Arab members was contacted by GW police and asked about the action. This was a greatly traumatizing and troubling experience, and highly inappropriate given that our actions were totally in line with what other student organizing groups do. And given the history of police surveillance and persecution of Arabs and Muslims in this city and this country, and the recent history of anti-Palestinian actions taken by this university administration, this is an extremely disturbing response to our political expression.
In addition, the fact that I, an Arab student, am being individually accused of the allegations made against me when there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that I am personally responsible for this charge is a clear and blatant example of racist profiling and discrimination.
Given the huge disparity in evidence and the fact that we were simply engaged in the kind of political expression that is extremely commonon campus I hope that we’re able to resolve this quicky and without anti-Palestinian bias, so I can get back to my work as a student and an organizer.
Thank you.