(Above photo: "Together despite Occupation and borders": This picture reflects how Palestinian youth challenge Occupation by overcoming geographic separation, political, and social fragmentation.)

At an event for a presidential candidate last summer, I had the opportunity to talk with Iowa U.S. Rep. Steve King.

On April 12, 2015, 25-year-old Freddie Carlos Gray was arrested by six officers of the Baltimore Police Department. While in their custody, his back was broken and he sustained a series of other injuries. The bodily harm caused him to fall into a coma, and he died a few days later. The city of Baltimore erupted in protest, and eventually the Baltimore City State’s Attorney charged six police officers in connection with his death. The first officer’s trial ended in a mistrial, delaying the start of the subsequent trials.

AFSC joined an action today at the U.S. State Department to call for international investigation and accountability in this week’s murder of Honduran indigenous rights activist Berta Cáceres, a courageous Lenca leader who co-founded the Civic Council of Popular Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH).

Hector Salamanca Arroyo served as grassroots engagement coordinator with AFSC’s Governing Under the Influence project in Iowa. Originally from Puebla, Mexico, Hector has lived in Iowa for the past 20 years and is a graduate of Drake University, where he created a campus organization to improve access to higher education for undocumented immigrants.

Lauren Brownlee is a member of Bethesda Friends Meeting and serves on the Peace and Social Concerns Committee and the Growing Diverse Leadership Committee of Baltimore Yearly Meeting. She is also a member of the Sandy Spring Friends School Board of Trustees, the DC Peace Team, and the Quaker Palestine Israel Network.

In this fourth installment of our series featuring the writing of Black Quakers on Black Lives Matter, Lauren Brownlee speaks to the intersection of privilege and oppression, the solidarity between Palestinians and Black Lives Matter, and "that of God in everyone." Lauren Brownlee is a member of Bethesda Friends Meeting and serves on the Peace and Social Concerns Committee and the Growing Diverse Leadership Committee of Baltimore Yearly Meeting.