Hendrix students gathered in the rain with umbrellas and homemade signs to show solidarity with Palestine. They walked around campus chanting, “No justice, no peace. Palestine will never cease,” Jan. 25.
The walkout began at the Pecan Court, an outdoor common area in the center of campus and made its way around campus, raising awareness for Palestine and demanding a ceasefire.
One of the event’s organizers, a senior environmental studies major, said, “We were just wanting to organize something for Palestine today to support Palestinian students on campus and to amplify their voices. There are a lot of things happening on campus that are censoring those voices. So we wanted to walk out in support of the global strike.”
She opened the protest with a speech, calling upon those who aren’t marginalized to speak up.
“I am reminded by everyone here that it is not one person’s job to speak on behalf of what is happening in Palestine. It is all of our jobs,” she said. “You don’t have to be oppressed to speak out and against oppression. It is crucial in moments like this that we use our privilege to stand up and talk about things that are going on in the world right now.”
One speaker opened up about his experiences as a Palestinian-American.
“I’m always experiencing this guilt complex,” he said. “Palestinians are dying by the thousands, entire families wiped away. And the things we often take for granted are the very things they wish for.
“We pray that we don’t have classes for a snow day when they pray for their lives every second. We find ourselves complaining about classes and exams when they’re struggling without food and water,” he said.
He said, “The unthinkable becomes acceptable when we deny human people their humanity. We mourn the Palestinian and Israeli lives lost, and we continue to fight with everything we have to bring this devastating violence to an immediate end.”
A Palestinian-American woman taught the audience several chants using a megaphone, such as, “Palestine, don’t you cry, together we will amplify” and “Stop the violence and the silence” before they began the walk.
Students march across Hendrix College campus during a walkout to demand a cease-fire in Gaza and protest Israel's treatment of Palestinians. Over 26,000 Palestinians have been killed since Oct. 7.
“I just really came because I want to support my peers,” Hannia Valeron, a junior biology major, said. “It is really the bare minimum that we can all do.”
Trevion Williams, a senior accounting major, said, “Our friends that we interact with on a daily basis that actually have family or friends in these areas are heavily affected. I’m not an activist. I’m just a person who loves other people and tries to understand their situation.”
Cameron Presley, a senior health science and neuroscience major, said, “I can definitely recognize my privilege in all of this madness, and especially when we have students here on campus that are Palestinian, it’s really important to show solidarity and gain awareness.
“That way, we can make some disruptions to hopefully get enough attention to actually make a difference.”