At Berkeley we are known for the oddball tree-sitters, free thinkers, and weekly protests. After calling Berkeley home for nearly a year and a half, I admit that on several occasions I have thought that it was unnecessary that so much political action takes place on campus. Why was I being bombarded with fliers on racial equality or freedom of speech? Didn’t these people know they were preaching to the choir? Sadly, the violence that ensued last week over a difference in religion, ideology, and even race has shown me that we are far from conquering prejudice. And even in a place that touts intellectual innovation and progress, the rally for “Peace not Prejudice” is more pertinent than ever.
Yesterday evening I attended a community forum that aimed to address the concerns of students who were affected or just generally disturbed by the fight between members of the Zionist and Pro-Palestine groups. I was disappointed that there was very little constructive discussion on the specific incident and that the two hours was dedicated to a lot of finger pointing and heated remarks. The coverage of the violence has been nothing short of vague and the administration has responded much too slowly–an email four days after the incident will not suffice when the magnitude of the situation is so great. The divisions ran deep, although they were often aggravated by folks who clearly were not students, nor directly affiliated with the university. The take home message is that students feel unsafe on campus and that is not acceptable.
Despite all this, what does give me hope is that most of the people who came genuinely wanted to start a dialogue and reach a peaceful solution. I hope that we can see that while this specific situation must be dealt with justly, the student divisions need to end. Respectful discussion is more crucial than ever. As a Berkeley community, I hope we can find it in ourselves to recognize that we ARE bigger than this.
