More about campus protests
and about not feeling safe on campus
Mischaracterizations of protests dispirit my spirit. To be clear, the call of the movement is: immediate ceasefire, and the disclosure of and divestment from support of the genocide and oppression of Palestinian people.
The way people are talking about this sucks.
But you know what is so much worse?
The unfathomable destruction and death in Gaza.
My God.
Anyone with eyes and a heart … who doesn’t ache … and ache so much that they are compelled to speak out for an end to this atrocity … I truly don’t know what to say.
But writers don’t just say, they write (and also scream and also take to our beds in anguish). So let’s write about the most pervasive and potentially persuasive argument against the protests:
“Jews don’t feel safe on campus.”
Friends. That’s awful. It’s terrible for Jews not to feel safe on campus.
Prejudice is not ok. Prejudice is never ok. It’s horrible to experience.
And there are some threads I’d really like to piece out a bit here. Including:
Feeling unsafe on campus, while awful, is not a new experience for a lot of folks.
That may be hard to hear.
I don’t want to diminish or normalize not feeling safe. For real. It’s terrible.
Too, I don’t want to engage in comparisons that lead to some kind of Oppression Olympics.
So let’s stipulate, however cheesy it may sound: my heart, intentions, and actions are about working toward a world of peace, mercy, compassion, and belonging. And dance parties (whatever dancing means to you, and however it expresses with your bod). At least that’s my intention.
That’s why I believe in solidarity. That’s why I engage in restorative justice. That’s why I scream against injustice. That’s why I write. That’s why I give a good goshdarn about folks in cages (jail, prison). That’s why I am engaged in the ongoing project of dismantling white supremacy. That’s why I relocate worms on sidewalks and cicadas at protests. Hello. That’s why I’m here.
It is awful that Jewish folks are feeling unsafe on college campuses.
I would speak up against it even without having experienced it myself.
But guess what? I have experienced it myself. And so have a lot of other folks.
Me, I never felt that campus was a safe refuge. Or if I did, it was a notion quickly dispelled.
Beginning in the fall of my freshman year, I was screamed at: that I just needed “a good dick up the ass” while participating in a Take Back the Night march.
I was called —by old “friends” and strangers alike— a “bull dyke” and “lesbo” for my identity as bisexual.
I was locked in a dorm room filled with frat bros, who then wondered aloud if they should rape me, because I had publicly spoken about being a sexual assault survivor. I sure didn’t feel safe walking alone around campus (or in town) at night. And that’s just lil’ ol’ me: a pleasant little cisgender white girl.
Black friends, Native friends, and people of color? They feel, and have felt for a long time, unsafe on campus and elsewhere, around LOTS of folks, including campus police. Because they are unsafe around law enforcement.
That’s why in 1992 we protested and sat-in to prevent campus police from carrying firearms. (And continuously since then: BLACK LIVES MATTER and calls to DEFUND THE POLICE and STOP COP CITY are all similar projects, similar calls to action and solidarity.)
Were you there? Have you been heeding those invitations? Maybe now is a good time to begin?
Gay, lesbian, bi, queer, and trans folks have been, and continue to be, targeted like whoa, all the time, on campus and everywhere. In what ways have you been worried about their (our) safety? How are you engaged in solidarity with them (us)?
Fat folks, different-looking folks, and folks with disabilities feel unsafe on campus because they are unsafe — being “fat-called,” pushed over in their wheelchairs, unable to access classes and services. How have you come alongside them?
Or maybe now is the time to begin?
And Muslim and Arabic students. Targeted, violently, by law enforcement and civilians after 9/11.
My step-father’s family was targeted by law enforcement. My bestie’s brother got beat up on his way to his high school. (OMG, y’all. The cutest boy, you wouldn’t believe how adorbs.)
Our Muslim neighbors have been targeted, violently, continuously, for years.
Did, do, we speak up for them? In what ways?
And Palestinian students right now.
Whoo doggy.
Palestinian students are not just feeling unsafe … they are unsafe on campuses.
My own child’s bestie, who is Palestinian, has felt targeted on their campus all year. And no wonder.
On October 31, 2023, a Muslim UNC student was reportedly attacked with a knife for being Muslim.
In November 2023, three Brown University students of Palestinian descent were shot in a targeted hate crime.
In February 2024, a Palestinian man was stabbed near UT Austian after attending a rally in support of Palestinian rights and calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
And pro-Palestinian protesters were deliberately hit by a car this month.
Who is unsafe on campus? Who is the threat?
Dudes. Doodles.
I have to ask: while we hold in our hearts the safety of Jewish students, where is the national outrage and agony over the safety of Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab students?
How about the prolonged, hateful, and violent attack — for several nights in a row — against the Palestinian Solidarity Encampment at UCLA? (It’s worth reading this first-hand account. And this one, too.)
Maybe you don’t know what happened. Understandable, because of the coverage.
While police stood idly by for more than three hours, “[w]hite nationalists and neo-Nazis joined forces with Zionists (including some saying they were Israelis) to attack UCLA’s Palestine Solidarity Encampment, whose residents included a large number of Jewish students.”
These attacks included the repeated shouting of violent threats and racist slurs, the use of modified fireworks as incendiary devices, and violent beatings.
Leaving aside state-sponsored police brutality against pro-Palestinian Jewish protesters, this is the worst antisemitic violence we’ve seen during 2024 campus protests — and it was perpetrated against the Palestine Solidarity Encampment.
When the cops did intervene — again, three hours after the violence began — they arrested 200 pro-Palestinian campers. Natch.
And no, it’s not just UCLA.
Quite a few pro-Israel counter-protesters are really not covering themselves in glory.
But it’s much, much harder to find coverage of these attacks than the supposed antisemitism of the huge pro-Palestine, cease-fire movement. Not because the attacks aren’t happening, but because they don’t fit the accepted narrative.
(Gotta say: student newspapers are doing by far the best, most in-depth and honest reporting of the protests. Look them up.)
If we are worried about student safety, as we claim to be — then how are we showing up for pro-Palestinian students who are being targeted?
Why do I bring this up?
Not to diminish.
Not to compare.
But to INVITE.
Because this is the invitation.
Feeling unsafe, while horrid, and traumatizing, can also be an invitation into solidarity.
They can be both at the same time.
There is a chant, and it’s a good one: Who keeps us safe? We keep us safe.
I’ve been to my share of protests and boy howdy, I have been extremely impressed with the way these 2024 protesters are caring for each other. (Including a very personal account that I won’t share here, but if you buy me a coffee or a glass of wine I’ll be quite quite happy to tell you.) When I was in college, the idea was basically, “If the cops show up, run.”
I cannot tell you how much better organized and how much more this gen of protesters are caring for each other. It’s inspiring. We can learn a whole lot from these students.
Including: Solidarity is what keeps us safe.
Not governments. Not militaries. Not brutal repression or apartheid of your “enemies.” Not jails or prisons.
Community keeps us safe. Belonging keeps us safe. We keep us safe.
Because I promise you this: law enforcement in these United States does not keep you safe. Cops do not care about you.
“The cops will protect me,” or
“the police will protect my children”
is a nice bedtime story to lull yourself to sleep.
(It’s a bedtime story that is steeped in privilege. Do you think everyone gets to sing themselves this lullaby? Do you think the origins of modern-day policing can’t be directly traced to slave patrols?)
Guess what? Law enforcement enforces the laws — and violently — of white-supremacy and hegemony.
(No matter how “good” an individual cop might be, the system is filthy. And bless their hearts, no matter how much they might try to fight it, cops can’t help but be human cogs in a dirty machine.)
So — hear this — if you are aligning yourself with calling the cops on peaceful protesters, you are aligning yourself with hegemony and white supremacy.
And y’all, hear me loud and clearly: white supremacists DO NOT CARE ABOUT JEWISH PEOPLE.
The cops in Charlottesville roughed up and arrested peaceful pro-Palestinian protesters —including Jews who celebrated Shabbat in the camp— at UVA this month but stood by doing absolutely nothing when white-supremacists chanted “Jews will not replace us!” at the same place, same campus in 2017.
Nah.
Who keeps us safe? WE keep us safe.
Community and belonging keep us safe.
Love, agape, connections keep us safe.
And that’s why I invite you —including folks still thinking that the genocide in Gaza is righteous or justified— to ask:
In what ways is this moment an invitation into solidarity?
Who do I trust more: violent governments or friends who love me?
Not for nothing, I’ve heard Jewish students and professors say protest encampments have been the most profound experiences of community they have ever felt.
Ooooh child. I can relate.
Because working together against oppression — bridging cultural, ethnic, racial, religious, and age differences into a movement of solidarity — is a profound act of community. It’s life-enriching and life-changing.
And so I invite all of us to ask, and ask again, and keep asking:
In what ways have I been showing up for folks who have been feeling unsafe and needing support for a long time now?
In what ways can I start now?
If you’ve been hanging with your own people, going it alone, that’s ok. We’re all human. There’s always time and room for change.
You are so, so welcome here.
Let’s all take a deep breath.
Let’s ask the divine, or God, or the Great Cosmic Echidna, to fill our hearts with love.
And then let’s ask again:
When folks have said they are unsafe, how have, or can, I come alongside them?
If I haven’t, what has prevented me from doing so?
Fear? Lack of understanding that this is all connected? Thinking “Eh, it doesn’t bother me”?
How can I —we— transform that thinking?
What connections or learnings might we need, to take steps towards solidarity?
Puggles. Loves.
We’re all works in progress.
And we all belong to each other.
Solidarity forever, y’all.
XOXO
Citations and suggested readings:
“UCLA’s Unholy Alliance: House Republicans accuse student protesters of vicious anti-Semitism, but it is administrators who are courting violence.” Robin D. G. Kelley, The Boston Review, May 18, 2024.
“‘I thought I was going to die’: UCLA encampment protesters recall April 30 attack.” Catherine Hamilton, Daily Bruin, May 7, 2024 10:57 PM.
“Op-ed: As an alumnus, I demand that UCLA admin hold Zionist mob accountable for attacks.” Robert Gardner, Daily Bruin, May 6, 2024 1:26 PM.
“When the hammer came down at UVA: Seven years after allowing neo-Nazis to march on its campus, a storied university crushed students who were protesting genocide.” Jonathan M. Katz, The Racket, May 07, 2024.
“CUNY and Columbia organizers hold press conference and rally after Tuesday police sweeps: Speakers recounted their experiences on Wednesday during the New York Police Department raids and negotiations with both institutions’ administrations.” Thomas Stewart and Miranda Lu, Columbia Spectator, May 2, 2024 9:27 PM.
“The ADL: Fabricating a ‘Campus Antisemitism Crisis’ to Manufacture Consent for Genocide. The state of Israel, the U.S. government, and the ADL want us talking about antisemitism so we are not talking about the genocide. We MUST not let them.” Amanda Gelender, Here4theKids, May 5, 2024.
“A New Jewishness Is Being Born Before Our Eyes: The future of our people is being written on campuses and in the streets. Thousands of Jews of all ages are creating something better than what we inherited.” Will Alden, The Nation, May 10, 2024.
“Jewish Voice for Peace Responds to President Biden: You dishonor the memory of our families killed in the Holocaust,” May 7, 2024.
“What Could Be More Radicalizing Than An NYPD-Columbia Education? Cop-Mayor Eric Adams ordered the NYPD to arrest student protesters in the name of stopping their "radicalization." The lesson he taught will last lifetimes.” Sam Thielman, The Forever Wars, May 6, 2024.
“Palestine, Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Primer.” Joel Beinin and Lisa Hajjar, Published by the Middle East Research & Information Project. February 2014.
Suggested listening:
Citations Needed Podcast - Episode 201: The Conservative, Faux-Erudite Rise of Nuance Trolling. May 15, 2024.
If Books Could Kill Podcast: The Columbia Protests. May 16, 2024.