This Tuesday, students gathered on Sadove Terrace to rally against the bombing in Lebanon on Monday by the Israeli Defense Force. The bombing killed at least 569 people and injured at least 1,850 more, according to a report by The Washington Post. The protest, organized by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), involved speeches given by SJP members outside of Sadove. Rally attendees also stood against the execution of Marcellus ‘Khaliifah’ Williams, a Missouri death row inmate. An emergency vigil was subsequently held at 6:50 p.m., ten minutes before Williams’ execution, after the Supreme Court denied his appeal.
“More than 500 people, individuals, people just like you, died yesterday. Someone’s precious child, someone’s lover, someone’s parents, someone’s entire world. Think about how losing a single family member, a single friend, affects you. Think about how your world stops when that happens. Now, think about that happening to your entire family, to many, many of your friends, a scale of loss that is multiplied across the nation that is unimaginable. Does it ever occur to you to think: that could have been me?” said Derya Arikan ʼ26 on Tuesday. Speakers at the event argued that detachment from the bloodshed in the Middle East has led to apathy. Following the speeches, students traced out their bodies in chalk along Martin’s Way, totaling 50 to represent the 50 children killed in Monday’s attacks. The chalk outlines intended to serve as a way for Hamilton students to visualize the number of children dead in Lebanon. “I want every single one of you to sit here with the weight of a body, a dead body,” Arikan added.
Diego Inzunza ʼ25 connected the war in Gaza to the execution of Williams, saying, “The state is trying to manufacture our consent in the execution of an innocent man named Marcellus Williams, who today is set 15to be executed by the state of Missouri…in the very same system that perpetuates needless violence against Black and Brown bodies through the incarceration system, through police brutality, the same systems that are being utilized today to desensitize us to deaths in the Middle East.”
As reported by The Guardian, Williams was convicted in 2001 for the murder of Lisha Gayle, who was killed by stabbing in 1998. In prison, Williams acted as an iman and wrote poems to express his emotions and beliefs. His execution was initially scheduled for 2015, but was halted days before the set date to further DNA testing on the murder weapon. In August 2017, the execution was postponed again because no DNA from Williams was detected on the knife. Williams’ case was under review for clemency until Mike Parson became the governor of Missouri. Parson pushed for Williams to be executed.
Both the family of the victim and Williams’ former prosecution believed that he should not have been executed. Furthermore, the jury convicting Williams had one person of color, with six of seven potential Black jurors being dismissed on the grounds of their race, according to The Innocence Project. After his final plea for clemency was rejected Tuesday evening by the State Supreme Court, Williams was executed despite objections from his initial prosecutor. This was one of five executions scheduled within a one-week period.
Students gathered outside of Sadove with lit candles to mourn the loss of Williams. A few short speeches were given in the minutes prior to his execution, lamenting the injustice of the situation and condemning the system they felt was responsible for the execution. During this time, a poem by Williams about the struggles and smiles of children in Palestine was read to the crowd. As the bell chimed, indicating that Williams’ execution drew near, students went silent in mourning. Some watched the flame of the candle slowly burn through the wax while others shed quiet tears.
After this moment of silence, students were given chalk to write any messages they wished on Martin’s Way: “They knew he was innocent they murdered lynched him anyway,” “A system of ‘justice’ would not have killed an innocent man” and “Who cares to care despite being unable to fully relate?” These words were written alongside the traced bodies representing Lebanese children.
On the 17th and 18th of Sept., Israel detonated explosives inside the pagers and walkie-talkies of selected targets in Lebanon, killing 16 Hezbollah members and 12 civilians, as reported by CNN and ABC, respectively. Five days later, Israel launched an airstrike against Lebanon, sparking SJP’s organization of Tuesday’s event. This airstrike is an extension of Israel’s response to Oct. 7th, when Hamas’ attack resulted in the death of 1200 people in Israel and the capturing of several hundred hostages, as reported by Al Jazeera. Israel’s counter in Gaza has resulted in the death of over 41,000 individuals, including nearly 16,500 children, according to the same Al Jazeera report.
During these developments, the U.S. has remained a firm ally to Israel, The Council on Foreign Relations reports. Since Oct. 7, the U.S. has increased its military aid for Israel by $8.7 billion, in addition to the $3.8 billion per year granted by a Memorandum of Understanding.
SJP’s remarks during Tuesday’s events argued that Hamilton lacks endowment transparency. Inunza said, “We don’t know the extent to which we are invested in material support of Israel, the extent to which we are invested in the ongoing destruction and war on Palestine: the genocide of Palestine.” Over the years, many student activist groups have campaigned for increased transparency in the investments of the endowment. A prominent movement amongst these was the campaign to have Hamilton divest from fossil fuels, however Hamilton has yet to inform the student body of its investments or confirm its divestment.
As stated on the College’s webpage, Hamilton’s goals for the endowment are to maintain its real value and increase its purchasing power, but it does not mention any investments that would be off limits due to potential negative impacts on the world. “In line with its mission as an academic institution committed to active citizenship, the College thoughtfully considers environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues as part of its investment process…The inclusion of ESG factors in the investment process is not intended to result in the exclusion of specific investments based on any single factor alone,” the College website says in its Investment Responsibility Policy.
SJP emphasized that the focus of its mission does not exist solely in the world outside of the Hill, but within Hamilton College as well. In conversation with The Spectator, Inunza took the position that “Hamilton College, as an institution of higher education, as a predominantly white institution, as an institution that is itself a form of settler colonial education existing on Oneida land, where not a single student from Hamilton College that has graduated has ever been a member of the Oneida peoples, Hamilton College itself is an institution that, through its very existence, perpetuates ideas of settler colonization, of white supremacy.”
Hamilton College was founded as the Hamilton-Oneida Academy on land originally belonging to the Oneida people as a Christian theological school. As previously reported by The Spectator, while the College states that any Oneida student can attend, no Oneida student studying at the College has graduated. In 2022, 64.5% of students enrolled at Hamilton College were non-Hispanic white, according to Data USA.
Tuesday’s event was the second protest by SJP this semester, with the first being a march for Palestine five days earlier on Thurs., Sept. 19th. Inunza stressed the importance of campus activism, “we always have more work to do, showing up to events like the one here today, keeping Gaza and Palestine in the conversations, in the classroom, in your organizational meetings, in your friend groups.”
Rallies can be a way for students to speak their minds about issues affecting themselves and others, and vigils can serve as a way for the community to mourn together. Both the vigil and the rally demonstrated a desire by attendees to keep ongoing global events at the forefront of campus conversations.
