EXCERPT
By Mia Macaluso
Boston University News Service
I visited the Palestinian liberation encampment at Emerson College on April 25 at around 8 P.M.; about 30 hours later, the police arrested over 100 protestors there.
I didn’t go there as a journalist. I went to drop off some food and extension cords – I had seen a post on Instagram asking for certain essentials, and for some reason I had about six extension cords at my apartment that I was never going to use, so I brought them.
What I saw there was beautiful. There was a ton of donated food; I didn’t really need to bring anything, but I put what I brought in the pile all the same. There was music playing and someone had cooked a homemade Palestinian food that smelled delicious. When I told one organizer that I had brought extension cords, he said “f— yeah, dawg!”
No one was shouting slurs or chanting for death and destruction like some media might tell you. It was actually fairly calm; the sky was already dark, and most of the people in the alleyway were wrapped in blankets in their tents, hunched over laptops and doing their homework. More people were sitting around in circles, painting posters. People were even sharing paint.
Many were dancing to the low music or eating, or just sitting and talking to their friends. No one was being violent or causing destruction and property damage.
I asked if I could take some pictures; I bring my camera everywhere, even though I didn’t go there with the intent to do any reporting. I asked every single person for permission before I took a picture of their poster, and I made sure not to get anyone’s faces in the shots. Someone actually came up to me to make sure I wasn’t taking a picture of anyone’s face.
I was wearing a mask the entire time, for the same reason he doesn’t want me taking a picture of anyone’s face. I’m scared to death of getting arrested, even if it’s for a good cause.
It’s a sad truth that I couldn’t show the faces of students who were brave enough to risk their degrees for something they believe in. It’s a sad truth that it’s a known fact that police departments stalk the Internet, searching for the faces of protestors to run through facial recognition software.
Source:
https://bunewsservice.com/op-ed-encampments-and-canceled-protests-why-both-students-and-journalists-should-be-calling-for-a-permanent-ceasefire/