An Oral History Project Conducted by John Robert Lewis Fellow Katie Wysong
Project Description
The University of California, Berkeley has long been a site of resistance and protest from the birth of the Free Speech Movement to development of the Disability Rights Movement. This history has attracted many students to the school. One of the most recent examples was the Palestine Liberation Encampment at the end of spring 2024 as part of larger protests on campus against the War in Gaza.
Within my Jewish community, there has been lots of misinformation and demonization of campus protests, including at Berkeley. For my oral history, I chose to talk to one of my close friends from my graduate program about her involvement in the protests and how faith has been a defining factor in organizing.
Oral History Interview with ‘SI’ - 05/16/2024
A Poem for Tomorrow
By Katie Wysong
Composed using SI’s Oral History (May 2024)
Yesterday.
I'm just one small,
very, very, very small,
person in this movement
Dallas:
There was a Black Lives Matter march…
there was a shooting that happened there…
five police officers died…
I would go to these Palestine protests.
pretty small
and I would always be really
scared
Today.
To be a part of this movement is probably the most important thing I'll ever do in my life.
Palestine.
there's so much grief to process that I feel like I haven't even grieved the genocide fully
seeing all of the carnage
all of the violence
nightmares
swept under the rug
Sproul Steps.
going to pray at the camp in the morning,
in the dawn
the most peaceful I have felt since October
seeing the sunrise,
feeling the breeze on my face,
just feeling content and feeling still,
and just enjoying the silence and the quiet on campus
Undercurrent of anxiety or stress
if an agitator would come and try to harm us.
if the cops would come.
Friday.
an outdoor prayer
a whole ring of people surrounding us and making sure that no one bothers us while we pray.
just one person trying to intimidate us
versus hundreds of people in the community focusing on prayer.
Radical solidarity is very possible.
Tomorrow.
what's the next step?
should we decamp or should we stay?
Just hearing poetry about the future
that vision of a future is closer to reality than it is not.
Presentation Slides
Presentation Recording