The tolls from the Williams Carillon echo across Campus Green. University of Denver students gather on the field with flowers and candles in their hands. They warmly embrace each other with teary eyes. The sun drops behind the Rocky Mountains. The field is enveloped in darkness. The dim-candle light flickers against the photos of slayed Palestinians.
On Oct. 7, 2024, DU for Palestine organized a vigil to mourn the many lives lost in Palestine in just one year. In that time, DU students have held multiple social actions to display their sorrow for Palestine. DU has yet to adequately respond.
This year on Oct. 7, over a hundred students and community members came together. They wore keffiyehs, Palestinian flags and the weight of the past year of violent occupation on their shoulders. The community members who came formed a circle on the field.
Reina Ortiz, one of the student organizers of DU for Palestine, was the first to step to the middle of the circle. She welcomed everyone, gave a big sigh and began her speech. In her opening statements, Reina highlighted the injustices of the University’s public statements regarding Oct. 7.
“And that is precisely why we are gathered here today of all days,” she said, “Because when our Chancellor, when our institution, only recognize and mention the hostages, the massacre on the 7th, and fail to mention the over 45,000 lives we have lost since then, they diminish Arab life.”
The acts of genocide in the Gaza region have been documented consistently on the internet since Oct. 7. Students across the Western world have had to watch helplessly every day. New photos and videos of the suffering in Palestine are posted daily. It is impossible for students at DU, and all across America, to separate Oct. 7 from the year of screams and carnage they have witnessed through a screen.
Although students at DU recognize the tragedy of Oct. 7, many believe that this act has been used to justify and silence the many killed in Gaza. The university has come out with several statements about Oct. 7, but has yet to directly address the active genocide in Palestine. Although over 43,000 citizens have been killed in Palestine, some of which are family members of students, the university has yet to make a declarative statement against the violent actions of Israel.
At the end of the night, a student named J.J. Mendez walked to the middle of the circle. Through a tight voice, he told the story of how he met a man from Palestine. He explained how this man became a close friend to him and his girlfriend. Shortly after they met, his friend explained that all of his family had been killed by an Israeli missile strike; his home was completely destroyed.
“That Palestinian man has further shown me what it means to resist the forces that be,” Mendez said in his speech. “Despite everything he has been through, he has chosen to continue pushing forward, carrying on his shoulders the grief that so many Palestinian men, women and children have known all too well.”
This is one case of many community members having direct connections with Palestinians who have been displaced due to Israel’s actions. And the university has yet to recognize these community members’ pain; they have yet to acknowledge any violence before or after Oct. 7.
For many students at DU, Oct. 7 not only represents the violent actions that day, but the rampant rise in genocidal action by Israel against the Palestinian people.
