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As she watched the conflict in Israel and Gaza unfold this fall, 17-year-old Asma Zuaiter became fed up with what was happening and finally decided to organize a protest in support of the Palestinian cause in a completely unexpected place: the Huntsville, Alabama, courthouse.
At first, Zuaiter, a second-generation Palestinian American, was wary that no one would show up, because her city is conservative and known more for contentious debates over Confederate monuments than protests against a war abroad, according to a lengthy report in the Washington Post.
But as the march began, dozens of fellow Muslims, including veiled women, poured into the city square in late October, carrying banners condemning the Israeli invasion ofGaza stripThe local media attended, and Zuaiter then realized that she had succeeded in connecting her city, and its growing Muslim population, to a conflict thousands of miles away.
“People now know that there is a Palestinian voice in this city,” said Zuaiter, a student at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. “Everyone has a voice and we can say what we think is right and resist using our voices.”
The newspaper pointed out that protests in support of the plight of the Palestinians began to increase across the country, from the deep south to Appalachia in the eastern United States, and relatively rural communities in the Midwest, which indicates the continued spread of the American Muslim population in the heart of the country.
Political awakening
The Washington Post added that refugee children from Islamic countries organized many demonstrations, which indicates a political awakening among a new generation of young Americans who are contributing to shaping American public opinion in support of a ceasefire in the Middle East.
The newspaper believes that the anti-war marches in many American cities create a sense of community belonging among Muslims who had not dreamed before these events of the possibility of organizing such gatherings. Now they pledge to continue their activism to influence public debate while showcasing the emerging political power of American Muslims.
In the process, anti-war marches in places like Huntsville, Oxford, Miss., and Boone, North Carolina, are creating a sense of community among Muslims who only recently dreamed that such gatherings could be held. Now, they pledge to continue their activism to influence public debate while showcasing the emerging political power of American Muslims.
“Just because we live here in the United States doesn’t mean we’re isolated or separate,” says Hammad Chaudhry, 24, a second-generation Pakistani American who has helped organize several pro-Palestine demonstrations at Appalachian State University in Boone. “We live in a globalized world where the smallest thing in one place can have a huge impact somewhere else,” he adds.
One of the successful experiences in raising public awareness about the Gaza issue is that of Khalil Abu Alia, a second-generation Palestinian American from Tennessee who studies medicine and pharmacy at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, which made him an anti-war activist.
Angered by estimates showing that two-thirds of those killed in Gaza during Israeli raids were women and children, Abu Alia and other members of the city’s Muslim Student Union decided it was time to push for an anti-war movement at Ole Miss, the University of Mississippi, a college that had At the forefront of civil rights battles in the 1950s and 1960s.
The first event was a “silent protest” in the Grove, a tree-lined park. Before the event, Abu Alia, like Zuaiter, was worried about anyone attending. But he was soon thrilled when about 50 people showed up, most of whom stood silently to draw attention to the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The newspaper concluded its report by saying: “Now, (Muslim) people in colleges and high schools feel increasingly confident in themselves, and they are more willing to raise their voices and protest regarding any number of issues.”
