By Evan Martinez
Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel killed 1,200 Israelis and left at least 250 as hostages. Since then, the Israeli military has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza. At least 14,500 of those killed have been children, 9,500 have been women, and more are assumed buried under rubble; mass graves have been discovered, and 17,000 Palestinian children are believed to have been orphaned. Educational institutions, places of worship, hospitals, housing and aid convoys have been attacked. Over a million Palestinians, including 600,000 children, seeking refuge in Rafah are now being bombarded and displaced to a new “humanitarian zone” that lacks shelter, food, drinking water, and services.
We, a diverse collective of social work students at the University of Maryland School of Social Work, stand in solidarity with the thousands of activists worldwide in condemning this violence. From day one, every student in our department is taught to recognize, call attention to and disrupt oppression– there is no neutral role.
The National Association of Social Work’s code of ethics stipulates that we “pursue social change, particularly with and on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of people” and pay “attention to the environmental forces that create, contribute to, and address problems in living.”
We must stand against this violence and examine how environmental factors and historical patterns of oppression contribute to the present. We would be remiss to ignore the history of colonization, military occupation, war, discrimination, immigration, displacement, assassination, land-grabbing and blockades perpetrated against the Palestinian people.
Grounded in our core value of respecting the inherent dignity and worth of all persons, it is our duty to remember that Palestinians are people. They are parents, siblings, children, humans with fundamental rights who are being oppressed and murdered. How many lives must be stolen before the violence stops? Who will have the courage to stop the suffering? We reject the notion that advocating for humanity is antisemitic. We are leaning into our learning: shunning the single story, considering history, noticing patterns, upholding ethical commitments, refusing to remain neutral, and embodying the spirit of resistance to injustice in order to effect positive change. Most especially, because our graduation falls on the 70th anniversary of this country’s rejection of “separate but equal” in the Brown v. Board of Education case, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954.
Senator Cardin has been a staunch supporter of Israel’s military occupation of Palestine and believes that the United States should support the Israeli government unconditionally. He has called for an inequitable two-state solution and the dissolution of the U.N. Commission of Inquiry that investigates human rights violations in Palestine. In an interview with The New Yorker in November, he spoke about his support for providing humanitarian aid to Gaza “to protect those that are innocent victims of this war.” At the same time, he is contributing to the environmental forces that create the need for humanitarian aid by ensuring that Israel receives the weapons it needs. At what point does defense become offense? When do innocent victims become intentional targets? When do we intervene to stop the violence causing the humanitarian crisis?
President Jarrell’s and Dean Postmus’ choice to invite Senator Cardin to provide our keynote, represents their tacit endorsement of the continued killing, displacement and inflicted famine of millions of people. Their choice to continue with Senator Cardin after receiving ample feedback from current MSW students, faculty and alumni expressing their disappointment is disheartening. Being told by leadership that none of us have the ability to change the outcome of the keynote speaker was discouraging, especially as other universities, like Xavier and the University of Vermont, have courageously changed course to realign with their community.