By October 21st, 2023, some 6,000 people in the Gaza Strip and Israel had been killed in the expanding Israel- Hamas War.
Here on the University of Illinois Campus and around the world, tensions between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli communities were rising.
As part of their coverage of the conflict last fall, Illinois journalism students spoke with members of these communities in open mike sessions at the University YMCA, the Central Illinois Mosque, the Chabad Center for Jewish Life, and Illini Hillel.
The voices they captured tell the story of a campus torn by fear, distrust, and rising anxiety. The ethnic and religious labels at the core of the conflict in the Middle East were driving people apart here locally.
With speakers granted anonymity to express themselves freely, here’s chapter 3 of Fallout: Navigating Identity in a Season of Conflict.
This series was produced and edited by University of Illinois Journalism Professor Charles “Stretch” Ledford. Interviews were conducted by Faith Lee, Anneliese Cornejo Garcia and Elizabeth Kelly.