Our client Rümeysa Öztürk shared the following statement after the Second Circuit Court of Appeals hearing on September 30th.
"Thank you all for being here today.
My studies, research, and professional work are in the field of child and adolescent development, with a focus on how positive media use among children and adolescents can nurture more kindness and compassion in the world. I am also a teacher, and I strive to listen to, support, and care for young people—including undergraduate students at Tufts, where I am a doctoral student.
That is why, together with other Tufts graduate students, I coauthored an op-ed in The Tufts Daily in 2024 which sought to affirm the equal dignity and humanity of all people. The opinion article urged the university to listen to its undergraduate student body and the democratic resolutions passed by the Tufts Community Union Senate, which included a call for the university to acknowledge the Palestinian genocide.
Writing is one of the most peaceful methods of communication and ways of taking action that I am aware of. Writing is a form of listening, a process of thinking out loud, and the foundation upon which so much of our world is built. Writing is the heart of freedom of expression. Unbelievably, it was my writing—this single opinion piece, published in our student newspaper—that led to my arrest and ultimately landed me in a damp and crowded for-profit ICE prison for 45 days this spring.
Despite my experience, I remain hopeful that our world can become a gentler and more peaceful place. A place where every child, no matter where they are born, has the freedom to learn, be in community with others, and ultimately grow up to be an adult with the freedom to speak their mind so that they can gently take care of one another. The women I was detained with in Louisiana helped me see this future is still possible with their kindness, compassion, and the power of their spirit.
From our children kept in for-profit immigration detention centers in inhumane conditions, to our children in Gaza facing a genocide, from our children of war everywhere from Ukraine to Sudan, to our BIPOC children facing daily racial injustice and our refugee children whose childhood is stolen, the oppression is connected and global, and so our response and compassion must be equally universal .
I hope others who hear my story know that we all have the power to make this world a better place. Doing so starts with speaking up about injustice when we see it. As my case continues to move forward, I am grateful for the outpouring of support and expect to see the basic principles of our democracy prevail.
Wishing peace and safety to everyone. Thank you.”