By MONIQUE VARELA and EMMITT MURPHY

A sign being held up at Sylvan Park in Redlands on May 10, 2024. (EMMITT MURPHY/ Ethic News photo)

MIT, Harvard, Columbia, prestigious universities across the country have erupted into mass protest, forming encampments to object to the United State’s involvement in Israel’s zionist crusade on the people of Palestine. USC, UCLA, UC Berkeley and students all over California join other protestors in the nation, loudly expressing their discontent with their tuition money going towards Israel and companies that support it. Now, highschoolers from Citrus Valley, Redlands East Valley, Redlands and Orangewood High School have made their voices clear as well. They want to see change, they want their community in Redlands to wake up and see the atrocities that the people of the country have been so negligent of.

Redlands4Palestine

Redlands East Valley High School senior Musa Safie, one of the admins of Redlands4Palestine at the corner of Sylvan Park on May 10, 2024. (EMMITT MURPHY/ Ethic News photo)

The origins of the movement can be traced back to two Redlands East Valley seniors, Musa Saife and Ahmir Carthell. 

After months and months of simply hearing about the atrocities occurring, Saife grew tired of feeling like a helpless bystander, so he texted Carthell saying, “Hey we need to do something about Palestine, we need to make a group chat,” and from that moment the Redlands4Palestine Instagram account was born. 

Alongside Safie and Carthell, this account was, and still is, run by Bayan Yousef, Roxanne Garcia, and Malia Coggins, all seniors from Redlands East Valley.

This account served as the catalyst for the entire movement, organizing and providing information for those willing to help. 

The account gained traction at a rapid pace, going from “100 followers one day to 300 followers to 500 followers, now we’re at 600 followers all in the span of 7 days,” according to Safie. 

To him, this was always part of the plan, as to him “social media has been a big part,” in spreading information and getting more and more people on board. It was due to this account that many students from other RUSD campuses were able to pitch in, which led to the protests on different campuses on the week of May 5.

REV’s Student Protest

The first of the week’s protests took place on Monday, May 6 at Redlands East Valley High School, setting the mood for what’s to come. Lined up on the H Building stairs, students made their support loud and clear, carrying posters and flags, wearing the colors of the flag on their clothes, dawning keffiyehs or other cultural wear, all in solidarity with Palestine. 

Overall, the mood surrounding the protest came out positive, and as REV senior Zenah Hasouneh put it, it really served to “let the people know that we were serious about this and it wasn’t just a joke.” 

However, the protest didn’t come without its problems, according to Safie, some students at REV were telling the protestors “brutal things like, hey we should go kill ourselves, it was just harsh and some kids were coming with chromebooks and they would put the Israel flag and would flash it in front of us and they were all like you know, F Palestine, all that stuff.”  

It wasn’t just students who would object, as some staff members had allegedly stood against the protestors as well, calling the students “terrorists” both on and offline. 

“It’s so crazy how this came from one of  the people who wanna be board members for RUSD,” says REV senior Malia Coggins. “It really questions if those people are running for the board what they really stand for, what RUSD really stands for and stuff like that.” 

However, protesting students still kept their heads high. 

“It has been inspirational to see that when people come together we can make waves no matter how small,” says REV senior Pearl Solis. “It’s just been beautiful to see everybody coming together despite hate and negativity from the people around us.”

Citrus Valley’s support

Students from Citrus Valley High School show support for Palestine on May 7, 2024. (RONIN DELGADO/ Ethic News photo)

Around many high schools, there has been an abundance of support against the genocide happening in Palestine. At CV, the Middle East Student Union club has been spreading information about what’s going to be happening around Redlands, as well as other fundraisers to support Palestine. They also connect with the social media account Redlands4Palestine, which is run from students around many campuses. 

On May 7, there was a meeting hosted by representatives Jameila Odeh and Neda Shehub, which discussed protests that would be happening around Redlands. That same day, there was a protest at Riverside City College.

May 8 was the silent protests at CV where students showed support by wearing traditional clothing, flags that were being given out, as well as just wearing the colors of the Palestine flag.

 Odeh said that the “turnout was pretty good” and that “any amount of people is good.” 

When asked what really inspired this movement, she had a lot to say. 

“I’m Palestinian and my dad’s Palestinian and like goes to Palestine all the time,” she says. “I think what really inspired people to make the Redlands4Palestine and everything was everything going on in college campuses for sure. It really opens people’s eyes to like students taking a stand against like administrators and like doesn’t have to be just at a governmental level for people to make change like it.”

When it comes to protests and taking action it doesn’t all come easy, especially when it comes to people who don’t agree with what is being fought for. 

“I never fear like big crazy backlash like maybe like a few kids are annoying or whatever but I expect that all the time like for no matter what,” says Odeh. “It scares me cause I would hate for myself to get in trouble obviously, but more for like my friends and people who are supporting to get in trouble too.”

According to Odeh many students are involved in the change that is going to occur following this movement, as well as new communities being built in order to support Palestine. 

“We can make communities from wherever we are,” says Odeh. “ I feel like as long as we just keep that going and reach out to like younger grade levels” the movement will be able to continue going strong.

The Sylvan Park Walkout

Students line up by the sidewalk of Sylvan Park in Redlands, Redlands East Valley High School senior Pearl Solis as the head, on May 10, 2024. (EMMITT MURPHY/ Ethic News photo)

The week-long protests came to a grand conclusion with the student walkout and protest at Sylvan Park, near the University of Redlands. Students from REV, CV, RHS and OHS would be seen walking off campus at noon on May 10 and protest on the streets, which was posted by the Instagram account.

Teachers were told not to stop students from walking out at CV, however, REV students had a harder time leaving their campus, as security had blocked the exits in preparation for protesting students.

Despite the troubles, the protest was able to begin as scheduled, seeing the students holding up signs and flags, fully displaying their support for passersby to see.

Led by Bayan Yousef, Zenah Hasouneh, and Pearl Solis, students could also be heard chanting from miles away, directing their cries to multiple targets. Whether it be for support for the suffering Palestinians with “Gaza, Gaza, don’t you cry, Palestine will never die!” heavy criticism for the United States government, chanting “Joe Biden you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide!” or even criticism towards RUSD, saying “RUSD can’t you see? Students aren’t afraid to speak!”

For some these chants were just an extension of the movement, a simple way to make their voices heard, but to others, to someone like Bayan Yousef, this meant so much more. 

“You know I’ve always said free Palestine even since I was younger because as a Palestinian, that’s what we do, we keep a smile on our faces and we say free Palestine, we say end the genocide,” Yousef said. “I’m really happy today, I’m so happy that I was able to see this in my lifetime and be able to say once in my life, yes I’ve seen the world speaking on more controversial issues.”

Redlands East Valley High School senior Bayan Yousef leads students in their vocal support of Palestine at Sylvan Park in Redlands on May 10, 2024. (Emmitt Murphy/ Ethic News photo)

The protest proceeded with little to no counter protest, in fact, many passing by showed their support for the students, both in cars and on foot. 

One unnamed supporter, presumably from the University of Redlands, decided to share some words with the students, borrowing a megaphone from one of the speakers and saying “youth, in history, has always been the voice of justice,” as well as congratulating the students and urging them to continue to not be silent, saying “we do not want to be complicit, we want to say no, enough is enough to our government, enough is enough to the institutions that are funding weapons of war and funding genocide.”

With this, the first half of the protest came to an end, and after a quick pause for water and discussion, the group of students began their march from Sylvan Park all the way to Redlands City Hall. With a total of about 50 people, the students marched strongly towards their destination, continuing their chants and hoisting their flags and posters up high.

The march garnered much more attention for the students, as many passing by had decided to record the students and post them on Instagram, exposing their protest to a wider audience.

Once the students made it to City Hall, the protest continued until its scheduled end at 6 pm, concluding the almost 7 hour student protest.

What’s Next?

While the Sylvan Park walkout marked the end of the week-long protest, it didn’t mark an end for the movement as a whole. After the protest, the group decided to shift focus towards fundraising to both give supplies to displaced Palestinians or provide for different Gofundmes of Palestinian families wanting to leave Rafah.

In order to do this, the students organized their own pop-up thrift shop, taking donations from students across multiple campuses and community members. Items were sold for between 1 and 10 dollars each. This endeavor turned out to be incredibly successful for the students, as they had made around 1,900 dollars in total, and due to the abundance of clothes that were donated, the students were able to host another pop-up thrift, scheduled for Saturday, June 1.

The pop-up shop isn’t the only event planned either, as just the day before, on Friday, May 31, another protest will be hosted. This one will be held from 3 pm to 6 pm on West Lugonia Avenue in Redlands, and will feature much the same from the Sylvan Park protest.