Opinion

In August, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, designated UC Berkeley as a “hostile campus” for Muslim students, citing administrative suppression and a rise in anti-Muslim harassment. A month prior, UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons testified before the U.S. House of Representatives, defending the university against allegations that it was fostering antisemitism. Within the span of a couple of months, UC Berkeley somehow found itself simultaneously accused of being anti-Muslim and antisemitic.

The streets were thick with people. My feet were moving with the tide of strangers, each step pulsing with a mix of urgency and electricity. The June sun burned against my shoulders, and sweat stuck my protest sign to my side, emitting the faint tang of marker ink. I was standing in the heart of San Francisco, wrapped in a crowd of tens of thousands, shouting together, “No kings, no crowns, we will not bow down!”