On Sunday August 25th, 2024, the Law Center invited our closest Land and Housing Justice clients, collaborators, partners, and friends to join us for an afternoon of art making at the 510 Firehouse, located in Oakland’s Chinatown.

When we were deciding what to screen print, Law Center Staff Attorney Veryl Pow shared that Sarah Augustine — co- founder and Executive Director of the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery — told him about a prayer she says every morning, “Thank you creator for the land, our body,” which is inspired by a prayer from the Nez Perce tribe. Members of the Law Centers Land Stewardship Circle agreed “The Land Our Body” was a value our community shared that we could screen print. Sarah Cauich holds up a screen print while Sandra De Leon (Somos Tierra) is to her left setting up for another round of printing.

In order to fulfill the need for the liberation of land from the speculative market and bring it back into the stewardship of Indigenous, Black, and People of Color, we need a coalition of passionate people working cooperatively from the struggle of those of us who have been dispossessed and displaced from the land. In this photo we see Law Center legal apprentice Dorian Payán on the left, with members and land stewards Gillie, Jorge, Anabel from Somos Tierra, and organizers Gina and Lina from North Bay Organizing Project.

Four years into a pandemic and it continues to be a challenge to bring people together in-person. But we know nothing can replace the feeling of sharing space, breaking bread, and using our hands to make something together. Itzel Nuño (SELC), claps and smiles after teaching Mwende Hinojosa (SELC) how to screen print for the first time. 

People collectively coming together to work for social utility and community infrastructure used to be a universal human experience — projects like processing seeds, raising a barn, or clearing a field before planting season. In our highly urbanized world, we have less opportunities to feel that kind of communality.  But when we do find ourselves together and working with our hands, supporting one another comes easily. In the background, Christine Hernandez (SELC) smiles as Donald Theard Jr. (Free-e-er Way Garden) hugs a friend. In the foreground, Tobias Damm-Luhr (SELC) helps Anabel (Somos Tierra) spread paint on her screen.

Housing advocate Amy Warren brought her daughter's favorite hoodie to be screen printed, so all the friends and families at school know what they’re all about.

Gina (North Bay Organizing Project) shows her gratitude with a hand to her heart, while Anabel (Somos Tierra), Erika Sato (SELC), and Dorian Payán (SELC) gather around fabric scraps ready to be turned into screen print art.

Old scraps of unused fabric, canvas tote bags, old bed sheets, and worn out tee shirts are transformed into art pieces. 

In between screen printing, John Janosko and friend (Wood Street Commons), Tobias Damm-Luhr (SELC), and Shira Shaham (EB PREC) take a break to eat food catered by Wahpepah’s Kitchen. 

A birds eye view of the gathering. We feel the buzz of connection. We smell food cooked by Indigenous chefs, grown on liberated lands by Indigenous people. We see hugs, smiles around the lunch table, the collective sorting of art making materials, and someone considering making screen prints for the first time. We hear new friends sharing information and laughter.