"Housing Is A Human Right
La Tierra Es Para Quien La Trabaja"

The artwork shows images of gentrification and resistance. While poor people of color in the San Francisco Bay Area has been hard hit by skyrocketing real estate values, they have also been on the front lines of resistance. Members of St. Peter's and Just Cause have picketed, protested, won ballot initiatives, stopped evictions and rent increases, and even engaged in civil disobedience to stop the wave of gentrification that has swept the area.

Both organizations believe that housing is a human right, not a privilege that should depend on how much money someone makes.

The art also depicts the famous quote by Emiliano Zapata, "Land for they who work it." Although this quote originally applied to campesinos, or farmworkers, these housing rights organizations believe it also applies to the city. The gardeners, busboys, coffee servers, and housecleaners of the Bay Area are part of what makes the land so valuable. So the land should belong to them.

Text by Adam Gold, Just Cause Oakland

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