Sixty-six year old Rasmea Odeh is a Palestinian-American feminist, activist, educator and community leader. She has served as the associate director of the Arab American Action Network (AAAN) in Chicago since 2004. For the past 10 years, Rasmea has built unprecedented community support for close to 600 Arab immigrant women on issues related to English literacy, gender violence, inter-generational cultural conflicts, racial profiling, immigrant rights, and access to social and economic resources.
On October 22, 2013 the Department of Homeland Security arrested Rasmea in her home for alleged immigration fraud as part of an ongoing witch-hunt that targets Arabs and Muslims who criticize U.S. and Israeli policy and labels them “terrorists.” The San Jose Peace And Justice Center staged a rally in solidarity for Mrs. Odeh on September 8th, 2014, at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library in Downtown San Jose, California. I was there to capture a handful of the speeches and testimonial from seasoned activists standing firm with Mrs. Odeh, and I'm proud to share them with you here.