This speech was written by the family of Rachel Corrie and read on Saturday, April 12, 2003 at numerous peace rallies around the world. Rachel was an accomplished writer and cared deeply about working for justice and peace in the world. To read some of Rachel’s writings, please visit the Guardian: here.

On March 16, our daughter and sister Rachel Corrie was killed by an Israeli army bulldozer while she was trying to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home in the Gaza Strip. Rachel chose to go to Rafah, a city at the southern tip of Gaza, because she believed the world had forsaken this place.

“When I lobby in Washington, D.C., or when Cindy and I give a talk somewhere, I don’t do that for Rachel. I know I can no longer do anything for Rachel, so I do that for the children still living in Gaza. But somehow this play feels different. To me, it is not only by and about Rachel, but also for Rachel.”

— Craig Corrie

NOTE: After the New York Theater Workshop “indefinitely postponed” the play My Name is Rachel Corrie, the play’s creators and the Corrie family were flooded with requests to perform it. Both the family and London’s Royal Court Theatre were heartened by such a response from so many people. Here, Craig Corrie responds to some of the requests and why it has been difficult to grant them during the past year.

Please forgive an old actuary, so new to the world of theater and activism, for weighing in where I have so little knowledge or experience, but I would like to express my feelings on two related subjects.First, I thank you all for the wisdom of focusing on the larger questions surrounding the fiasco of the New York Theater Workshop’s cancellation of the New York debut of My Name is Rachel Corrie. The silencing of this play is alarmingly similar to the silencing of almost any voice that speaks out for equal rights for Palestinians, and the silence we have all faced so often when demanding justice from Washington or Jerusalem.

Dear Friends,

On the third anniversary of Rachel’s killing in Gaza, here are three things that we urge you to consider doing today, or as soon as possible:

From New York:

“The “Rachel’s Words” initiative is made up of a broad spectrum of groups and individuals who believe that Rachel’s words and her message of human rights and justice should be heard. We hope that Rachel’s Words will open the door for other equally important and silenced voices. We resist the pervasive climate of fear and challenge to free speech that is increasingly prevalent in our society. Rachel wrote about issues that concern us all. People must have the opportunity to hear her message and decide for themselves what they think. Nobody’s agenda should stand in the way of that.”

We arrived in Israel and Palestine in late December for a remarkable international conference in Bethlehem, “Celebrating Nonviolent Resistance” and with intentions of traveling to Gaza early in January. Five members of the Olympia-Rafah Sister City Project were already working in Rafah at the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip–some for up to two months. They were having ongoing discussion with Palestinians about security issues. After careful consideration of the growing tensions surrounding upcoming elections and recent kidnappings, we agreed to travel to Gaza as planned, while continuing to carefully monitor the situation.

On the afternoon of January 2nd we arrived in the Gaza Strip where we anticipated spending five days reconnecting with friends and carrying out work for the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice and also for the Olympia-Rafah Sister City Project and The Rebuilding Alliance. We had wonderful reunions with the two families whose home our daughter Rachel Corrie tried to protect when she was killed in 2003, and with friends that we have made in the Gaza community since.

Dear Friends,

2005 has been a brisk and full year for the Rachel Corrie Foundation and for our family. We have traveled to talk about the plight of Palestinians and have networked with those working for an end to the illegal Israeli occupation and a just, secure peace for all in the Middle East. Supported by generous hosts, we have taken our message to high schools, colleges, churches, homes, and peace and justice centers across the country.

We joined Friends of Sabeel North America at conferences in Atlanta, Austin, Cedar Falls, and Denver and the Baptist Peace Fellowship North America at their 20th annual summer conference at Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon. In Madison, Wisconsin, we shared the stage with our Gazan friends Khaled, Samah, and Sama Nasrallah, as we all addressed a regional conference of the U.S. Campaign to End the Occupation. In Seattle and Chicago, sharing one of Rachel’s e-mails from Gaza, Cindy joined inspired activists reading powerful narratives from Howard Zinn’s and Anthony Arnove’s recently published Voices of a People’s History. During a beautiful New England October, we traveled the bucolic roads of the Granite State, speaking in several communities and lending a boost to New Hampshire Peace Action’s newly formed Palestine Education Network. With Presbyterians in Seattle and the Divestment Project in Somerville, we explained the importance of supporting selective divestment from corporations that benefit directly from the Israeli occupation; and in London, Cindy joined War on Want activists educating Oxford Street merchants about the Caterpillar boots and clothing being sold in their stores. There, too, at The Royal Court Theatre in Sloane Square, we attended sold-out performances of “My Name is Rachel Corrie,” drawn entirely from Rachel’s lifelong writings, edited by actor Alan Rickman and Kathryn Viner of Guardian International, directed by Mr. Rickman, and performed by the ex-pat American actress Megan Dodds. Craig and other family members walked the halls of the U.S. Congress and the Departments of State and Justice continuing the challenging work of seeking accountability from the U.S. Government and an independent investigation into Rachel’s killing. A host of interviews resulted in articles in publications including the Guardian Unlimited, the Los Angeles Times, and the Des Moines Register, as well as segments on CNN International, Democracy Now! and National Public Radio of Iowa.