Community Events

Community Event 1: Global Indigeneity - Late Night Discussions with Hamzeh

To be completely honest, I knew almost next to nothing about Palestine before I came to Stanford. The extent of my awareness and knowledge came solely from the souvenirs and generic stories that my uncle, who had played professional basketball in Israel, would sometimes brought back. So when Hamzeh Daoud was assigned to the room across from mine freshmen year, needless to say my mind and and global awareness were both exuberantly expanded and refined, and this has only increased even more now that we live together in Muwekma for the time that we lived together in Muwekma :’(. Through our countless late nights, I have learned many tough truths that need to be more recognized. I have learned of the oppression, discrimination, and forced removal of Palestinians from their homeland, much like that of indigenous peoples here in America. I have learned and seen the ripples that these historical and ongoing actions done by the US government and other corrupt institutions have had on so many people's lives, no matter how tangential. In that same breath, I have also learned so so many beautiful new ideas, ways of life, and aspects of cultures that have made me a more whole, defined, and empathetic person. From discussions of the problems and attributes of religion to talks of the differences in text and emoji etiquettes, from hookah to marijuana, from Amman to Dallas, I am forever grateful for the things I’ve learned and the time we were blessed with to live together, and I hope he continues to inspire and disrupt in New York and Geneva as he has done here.

السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ
As-salāmu ʿalaykum

Community Event 2: Lunch Time - Approaching Ignorance
Earlier in the quarter, I had an amazing conversation during lunch about how best to approach ignorance and microaggression. Hearing each person’s individual and unique methodology to push forward the “woke”-ness of the world has helped me learn more about each person while also helping me reflect on my own strategies and thought process.

- Posted on behalf of Sean Howard