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The Berkeley Campus Wants Me to Stay Silent. I Won't

(Jewish News of Northern California) Naomi Ashira Shenassa Toubian - Suiting up to walk to class, I fasten a "Bring Them Home" necklace around my neck - a gift from my mother, who got it while volunteering in Israel as a trauma therapist for wounded soldiers. For me, it has become a shield, symbolizing a constant fight. Just as I enter campus, I pass by an older man waving a towering Palestinian flag. He screams at me about intifada and genocide. Three minutes later, adults hand me posters covered in antisemitic conspiracy theories and cartoonish propaganda. They shout about revolution in America, Zionism as fascism and Jews as colonizers. After four more minutes, speakers blast pro-Palestinian slogans distorted into calls for violence and erasure. After class, I head to a table at the center of campus, where our organization gathers beneath an Israeli flag. We smile. We talk. We answer questions. We hold space for a truth that others try to silence. I feel like I am home. The next morning, my walk repeats. The fire within me grows stronger. Every walk through campus is a gauntlet. With every step, I become closer to my Jewish community. Every day that I choose to walk, I am choosing to become less fearful. The writer, 18, is a first-year student at UC Berkeley.
2025-04-24 00:00:00
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