What the Columbia Protests Teach Us

Shalom, Meteor readers,

Happy Passover to those who celebrate and a felicitous Tuesday evening to those who don’t. Religious fun fact for you! There probably wouldn’t be a Passover were it not for two very smart and brave women: Jochebed and Miriam, mother and sister of Moses. They really don’t get enough credit for saving Moses’ life, ya know.

In today’s newsletter, we take a look at the student-led protests across college campuses and find out what stay-at-home parents are really ✌️worth ✌️.

Be still, love,

Shannon Melero

WHAT’S GOING ON

Tents on campus: Over the last week, an increasing number of student groups on college campuses across the country have staged major protests calling attention to the ongoing attacks on Gaza and demanding the schools’ administrations divest from Israel. Students at Yale, NYU, MIT, and Columbia have been arrested; at Columbia, where over 100 students were arrested—some temporarily evicted from their dorms—faculty walked out, objecting to the fact that the university president had called the NYPD.

STUDENTS WITH THEIR TENTS AT THE COLUMBIA ENCAMPMENT (VIA GETTY IMAGES)

A lecturer from the law school told the Guardian that the police presence felt “completely unnecessary” and that “this was by all accounts a non-violent protest.” Not all students (from various campuses) agree: One student from the University of Michigan told CBS, “It’s scary, it’s terrifying. The sign says, ‘Long Live the Intifada’ … not a comfortable feeling.” But student organizers at Columbia released a statement saying, “We firmly reject any form of hate or bigotry and stand vigilant against non-students attempting to disrupt the solidarity being forged among students—Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, Jewish, Black, and pro-Palestinian classmates and colleagues who represent the full diversity of our country.” (It’s also worth noting that Columbia’s own Human Rights Institute released a statement confirming that the protests were non-violent.)

If like the students at the Columbia encampment last night you find yourself marking Passover at a protest or at home with family or friends it is a unique time to be doing so, considering the holiday’s deep roots in the struggle for liberation and lessons on mercy to outcast peoples. One Passover tale involves flinging the door open and declaring “All who are hungry come and eat!”—poignant words in the face of Gazans’ forced starvation.

As Rabbi Elliot Kula wrote in TIME, “Solidarity is not just a pretty word, but a powerful tool we need to leverage in this time.”

AND:

• A new study has calculated the cost of the free labor performed by stay-at-home parents, and as a person raising a small human, the numbers feel surprisingly low. According to the study, it would cost anywhere from $4000 to $5000 a month to outsource the work that stay-at-home parents do on a regular basis.

• What is EMTALA, and why is the Supreme Court about to decide whether or not doctors are allowed to let you bleed to death in an emergency room just to avoid performing an abortion? Dahlia Lithwick explains it all.

• In response to the ever-growing list of book bans, publishers are taking a stand and “flooding the market” with more diverse children’s books than ever before. I’ll take one of each, please!

• The ancient “chastity law” known as the Comstock Act has been rearing its ugly head lately as Republicans threaten to use it to restrict the mailing of abortion pills. But what would its chief architect, Anthony Comstock, say today? Abortion Access Front resurrected him from the dead to find out.

• The late blues singer Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton will be inducted into this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with other notable greats like Mary J. Blige, Cher, and Dionne Warwick. Listen to her “Hound Dog”—recorded four years before Elvis’ version—and enjoy.

• The Justice Department will pay a $138.7 million settlement to gymnasts who were abused by Larry Nassar. The settlement comes years after more than 100 gymnasts sued the FBI claiming the agency mishandled complaints, allowing Nassar years of freedom to harm more young women.

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