"One fall morning in 1985 the prominent Palestinian activist arrived to work at the Santa Ana office of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. When he opened the civil rights group's door, a rigged pipe bomb went off, mortally wounding him. "How can I forget that horrible day?" said Michel Shehadeh, whoreplaced Odeh as the West Coast regional director of the organization, which formed in 1980 to combat anti-Arab stereotypes in U.S. media."
"Odeh's murder remains unsolved 40 years later. To many Palestinians and other Arabs in Southern California, his death serves as a grim reminder of the discrimination the community has faced. But he is also a symbol of resilience. His memory stands as a call to action that has taken on renewed significance in recent years. When a wave of student activism against Israel's war in Gaza unfurled on university campuses across the U.S. last year, students at UC Irvine hoisted a banner onto a campus building declaring the site "Alex Odeh Hall," amid protest chants and the banging of drums."
Alex Odeh was killed in 1985 by a rigged pipe bomb at the Santa Ana office of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. The killing spread fear through the local Arab and Palestinian community and prompted concerns about further attacks. Odeh was remembered as physically slight, peaceful, soft-spoken, and a lover of poetry. His murder remains unsolved forty years later and stands as a grim reminder of discrimination faced by Palestinians and other Arabs in Southern California. His memory has become a symbol of resilience and has been invoked in renewed student activism and campus demonstrations.
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