To the shock of many, demonstrations against the horror in Gaza are spreading across the country, and the young leaders of this movement are found on college campuses across this nation. At a time when the young are portrayed as self-absorbed, materialistic, and addicted to their devices, they are boldly lining up to protest the unconscionable violence in the Middle East. Not only do they demand peace, but also that universities divest from any companies that do business with Israel. These demands—in the tradition of the divestment campaign that helped end apartheid in South Africa—will prayerfully spread as the death toll in Gaza continues to rise.
What’s alarming is the pressure these young leaders are facing. The nonviolent demonstrations in question are largely being met with fierce reactions. College leadership feels it best to quash these students’ use of their right to free speech and demonstration by assembling police for mass arrests. Various college donors are cutting off monetary support and are threatening never to hire anyone who boldly protests the atrocities in Gaza. Classes are being postponed or made virtual. Graduation ceremonies are being canceled. Right-wing legislators in Congress are assailing college presidents, posturing about calling in the National Guard.
“There comes a time,” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. taught us, “when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.” The student demonstrators are risking a great deal—suspension, expulsion, even criminal prosecution—to stop the horror in Gaza. Let the atrocities of the October 7 terror attacks not be overlooked or understated—they were reprehensible. Israel has every right to defend itself against Hamas, but not against the innocent Palestinian civilians who are entrapped and left without any means to protect themselves or flee danger. Israel is waging a massacre that has claimed over 30,000 lives, most of them women and children. Israel’s actions have pushed the over two million Gaza residents to the edge of famine. Gaza has one of the highest population densities in the world! The bombing of hospitals has ravaged medical supplies and capacity across the region. It is becoming clear, as the International Court of Justice ruled in January, that Israel’s actions put Palestinians in Gaza at an imminent risk of genocide, ordering “immediate and effective measures” to protect them.
To the protesters and those that support them, be not dismayed that your demonstrations have already had an effect. Press coverage of the war has become more balanced. Prime Minister Netanyahu’s destructive course has received more criticism. More and more legislators are calling for a ceasefire and for conditioning any aid to Israel as an end to the violence. The Biden administration has finally begun to push hard for a ceasefire and place conditions on the military and financial support they are sending to the region. As this statement is written, Israel and Hamas seem to be moving towards a 40-day ceasefire and an exchange of hostages.
One thing should not be lost: these student leaders represent the best of our nation and give me hope in our nation’s future. These students are evidence that democracy exists. The demonstrations are not perfect, but they represent these students’ zeal and passion for their cause. Consequently, and unfortunately, many demonstrators have found themselves being labeled as antisemites. Some of the demonstrators, however, are themselves Jewish and were moved to protest Israel’s actions personally. The demonstrators represent hope for the United States, Israel, and the world. The ultimate measure of a person, Dr. King taught us, is not where he or she stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where they stand at times of challenge and controversy. So, I ask: Where do we stand?
Reverend Jesse. L Jackson, Sr. is an American civil rights activist, politician, and ordained Baptist minister. He is the founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
Steve White / May 6, 2024 at 1:10 pm
It would be helpful if the Reverend Jackson, and those who believe as he does, would comment on the atrocities of October 7th. Recall that over 1200 people in Israel were murdered — women were raped, children were violated, hostages (all of whom now regrettably are likely dead) were taken. Included in this atrocity were a few dozen Americans.
Does that matter at all to the demonstrators? Cannot the demonstrators find one shred of human decency to mourn the innocents? Or are we to be told that “all Israelis” or “all Jews” are guilty and thus deserve the most hideous end to their lives?
The demonstrators demand a ceasefire in Gaza. Gaza, and its political leadership (Hamas), had a ceasefire on October 6th. It would be instructive to consider what happened the following day, and why the aggrieved party (Israel) no longer is interested in talking with Hamas.
The demonstrators demand disinvestment in Israel and corresponding new help for Gaza. It would be instructive to consider what has happened with the ‘humanitarian’ aid offered to Gaza the past two decades since Israel handed control of Gaza back to its people, and then consider what might happen to such ‘new’ aid.
Finally, the demonstrators demand, well, various other things, few of which go beyond slogans and pre-printed signage. The good Reverend considers the leaders of the protests to represent the best of our young people — to those who would be best, more is demanded — perhaps lead without violence (following the example of Dr. King), without vituperative anger (following the example of John Lewis), and without racial and religious hatred (following the example of Gandhi).
Chicago believes in the life of the mind. We wrestle with ideas. We do not coddle anyone. And we should not negotiate with those who offer only inchoate anger.
To the demonstrators: you can be the monsters you proclaim your opponents to be, or you can be better.
jo / May 7, 2024 at 7:30 am
Do you genuinely believe that Israel has done no wrong? What happened on October 7th was awful; we all know this. But when you compare the number of Israeli citizens killed to the number of Gazans, the latter is drastically higher. This should not be an argument about comparing lost lives like chess pawns, but you took it there first. Israel has committed war crimes, and instead of divesting, pulling out of agreements, and publicly denouncing their actions, people continue to find ways to support them or diminish the impact and importance of what’s really going on. The purpose of the protest was to make people uncomfortable. To make people turn their heads and listen. Reverend Jackson and MLK were brought up in this article because these tactics were used in the civil rights movement itself. And even in the civil rights movement, there were Black extremists saying “The white man is the devil.” But, as we know, the civil rights movement was not defined by these people alone. In this comment, you use the actions of a few to justify why you think the movement as a whole is bad. Most people who support Palestine do not support anti-Semitic behavior, just as I’m sure you would agree that not all Jews and Israelis support members of their government proudly saying things like “death to all Arabs.” Many people don’t support the actions of Hamas, but when you justify bombing schools, hospitals, and refugee camps, and dropping white phosphorus over the Gaza Strip (all of which are war crimes according to the United Nations) because there is a chance “Hamas might be there,” you devalue the lives of innocent Palestinian civilians whose only crime is existing.
You mention that Israel has handed control of Gaza back to its people, but to what extent? They still control Gaza’s food, water, and electricity. By bombing them left and right until the only “survivable” part of the Strip left is Rafah, which is now being bombed as well, Israel controls whether these people live or die. Gaza has no official or intact government. Why do you think that is?
This encampment only offers “inchoate anger” to people who are complacent in genocide and ethnic cleansing. I was not a part of the encampment, but I had no problem walking in and around it and showing my support when I felt it was necessary. I can handle not being able to sit on the Quad if it means the atrocities in Gaza are highlighted.
The purpose of the encampment was to inform people about the atrocities happening in Gaza, but now many of us see that it is in times like these when people’s true colors start to show.
Publius V. Maro / May 4, 2024 at 8:09 pm
“Reverend” applied to Jesse is worse than a joke. He has monetized his so-called fight for black causes his entire career without producing anything constructive to uplift the race. Exploiting dermal pigment politics is what he has excelled at, including shakedown for technology jobs in Silicon Valley; job seekers even when incompetent or unqualified didn’t matter, as long as the skin color quotas were met was his only criterion. Most abominably, he has always been critical of white and Jewish people, but I’ve never heard say a word abut the irresponsibility and destruction of the single-parent black family, high black incarceration rate and the perennial dependence on food stamps for more than 150 years since the Civil War, no encouragement of black youth to complete high school and beyond, high crime rate, teenage pregnancy, broken families etc. People like this Reverend makes one wonder why the black community can’t find an Irreverend preacher who can really make a difference to black community and remove the stigma that if you’re black you’re a potential criminal.
Anon Minority / May 4, 2024 at 9:13 pm
Ouch!
Anon Minority / May 3, 2024 at 8:57 pm
You do not speak for me.
You disgrace the Civil Rights movement.
You disgrace MLK and our ancestors with your lies.
“College leadership feels it best to quash these students’ use of their right to free speech”
This is a place of learning, not a circus. Students do not have the right to hijack shared spaces, declare themselves exempt from the rule of law, rain filth on their peers, and shriek at all hours into classrooms.
They have been given numerous opportunities to communicate with the administration in a civilized manner. They have refused; instead of acting like adults, they have resorted to barbarism.
The she- and he-protesters cannot be reasoned with. They are beyond help. There is nothing remotely noble about rendering the quad a biohazard, just for the sake of drawing attention to oneself. Indeed, these wokeists relish identity-obsessed lunacy, not solutions.
You mistake cosplay for a genuine cause. Stop imagining yourself in the past.
“The nonviolent demonstrations”
This is not the case. In fact, as the Maroon’s reporting from today’s rally has shown, the affirmative actionites instigated a physical attack on counter-demonstrators. Moot point.
Your assertions are specious at best, and evidence an ideological bias that smacks of antisemitism. You have not addressed the repercussions of the protests on campus. Instead, you have built a soapbox for yourself to wax poetic about an issue at the national level. (Given this, I am surprised this piece was approved at all. Minimal mention of UChicago, but extensive demagoguery. How curious. Does the Maroon practice quotaism now?)
Is it any wonder Jews are flocking to the right? With woke ring leaders like you effectively defending antisemitism and lawlessness, I am not surprised that most all Jews I have encountered at the campus protests are rallying around Trump and other conservatives. So it begins…
You, “Reverend,” epitomize the chronic victim complex that too many of my brethren are raised with. This is not the 1930s. Black and Hispanic folk are no longer oppressed; in fact, we enjoy more privilege than our white and Jewish friends, be it in college admissions (as this charade has proven) or job hiring.
This, of course, means we can act with impunity. As Alivisatos has shown by sanctioning this exhibit despite admitting it violates University policy, we are not held accountable. Let us be real with ourselves: if this were a KKK or a Trump rally, it would be shut down in seconds. But Alivisatos and the wokerati in our administration refuse to hold the affirmative actionites accountable because doing so would be “racist”; in other words, they have been indoctrinated by the same witless woke values as you have.
We uphold mutual respect and civility in this place, “Reverend.” Evidently, you have not acquainted yourself with our values, for if you did you would not be advocating anarchy.
O UChicago, fallen how low!
Affirmative action.
Affirmative action.
Affirmative action.
Do not forget how we got here.
Anon Jew / May 4, 2024 at 10:16 am
Do u need therapy lol
Anon Minority / May 4, 2024 at 12:22 pm
I will not be dictated to by a JINO.
Nacho / May 3, 2024 at 8:06 pm
He doesn’t mention if the protests are taking place in, “Hymietown.”
EightiesAlum / May 3, 2024 at 11:02 pm
Nacho,
You beat me to it!!
Yeah, Jesse showed his true colors in early 1984 with his infamous “Hymietown” remarks. His first response was to say the issue about his remarks was raised as part of a Jewish conspiracy. His campaign was divided as to whether he should even apologize. He got around to apologizing, sort of, but this pretty much derailed his campaign.
On the U of C campus, Jackson’s campaign was “the thing” for all the Kool Kidz. He was sort of a proto-Obama. His campus supporters had little grasp of what he was about, but he would speak in rhymes and pass off word salads as MLK-esque oratory and that was enough. A Jackson campaign button was an essential accessory for hip but vacuous Hyde Parkers.