University of California Berkeley - Blue and Gold Yearbook (Berkeley, CA)

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tory by Elizabeth McMunn hotos by Lien Dang and Robby Randolph he West Coast was startled groggily awake to crures of destruction, terror, and devastation that orning. Though many miles from the events lemselves, we were sickened and agonized by hat we saw on our TV screens and heard on our idios. The streets of Berkeley were reeling that lorning. Construction crews on Bowditch listened 1 their radios. Students in classrooms and on the reets discussed the latest news. The newest [formation was like a commodity — everyone anted it and it changed every other moment. The official UC word was that the campus was jing to remain open. Chancellor Robert Berdahl sued the following statement to the campus ammunity; 1 encourage faculty and staff to ipport students and one another during this araordinarily difficult period. I also encourage 1 students to turn to faculty administrators and impus staff for support at this time. Students at ;sidence halls should seek the assistance of staff lere who will help organize conversations and ipport groups for today ' s events. Though classes were not canceled, they were Itered. In a press conference the day of the attacks, sue E.xternal VPJosh Fryday said the ASUC does not expect business to go on as usual. He Tessed that the campus was remaining open as a ipport system for its community and that the student government wanted to create an environment free of blame but rife with discussion. The ASUC stood united in its peaceful, reflective, and mournful purpose at this conference. Executi e VP Justin Christensen said, Today is the kind of day we ' ll remember for the rest of our lives. Senator Sunny Lu stressed not politicizing or racializing what ' s going on. A candlelight igil was planned for that night. The newly reno ated Bear ' s Lair was open and equipped with TV ' s. Counselors staffed the rear parts of Heller Lounge throughout the week. The mood on Sproul reflected considerably more unrest. Several students used a poster- making project as a community forum and an astounding number of students added their feelings, frustrations and fears. My heart broke today and I can ' t even find all the pieces, wrote one student. Another wrote, violence begets violence... act peacefijlly and create your world, countered by a just society punishes the wicked no matter who they are. One student demonstrated more ambivalence towards the events by writing, My greatest struggle is between anger and peace... I want retaliation on the one hand. My nation was attacked, citizens died. But I would also like to learn from this and ensure that no more life is lost. God help us. I am afraid. Another reflected, Your life is ending one second at a time. Make it count. The posters remained on the steps of MLK for several days after the attacks. Students, alone and in groups, stopped occasionally to read and think about what had happened. At the same time, people got into arguments over the conflicts in the Middle East and debated what the United States has and has not done to help. That night, an estimated 2,000 people arrived at Sproul Plaza and lit candles. The Sproul Steps were transformed, as they had been in times past, into a makeshift stage. For a brief moment, they all sat surrounding the steps. There were se ' eral musical performances in memory ot the victims. Hoku Jeffrey, an ASUC Senator and member of the Defend Affirmative Action Party read a statement [calling] on all people to oppose and stand against anti-Arab and anti-Muslim hysteria and national-chauvinist backlash in response to the attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. Later, the mic was open so people could share their responses, thoughts, and feelings. In what ma} ' ha e been one of the most moving moments of the night, a man came to the microphone and asked the crowd, Who out there loves Mark Bingham. This was before everyone knew that Bingham had been a Cal rugby player, 29

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Maybe the most crucial changes happen fast, at the speed of an airplane or a fire. Maybe they happen at the slow pace of planningand calculation and conversation; it is hard to know anything for sure anymore. Four hijacked planes hurtled into targets on the East Coast on September 11, 2001. One hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center. One hr the South Tower. One hit the Pentagon. One crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Both towers of the World Trade Center collapsed shortly thereafter. Thousands of people died. These are the simple facts, as we know them. 28

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before we could connect his name to the caption Victim ' s mother calls son ' hero ' that ran across TV screens during network news programs, before his mother said that he had been on the Pennsylvania flight and that perhaps he had helped to crash it somewhere other than its intended target. All that we knew then was that Bingham was a Cal alum and that now he was listed as one of those presumed to be dead. Sadness and an.xiety did not dissipate in the next few days after the attacks. Statewide, schools were closed on September 11, but they opened with reservations o er the next few days. University Health Services distributed fliers about maintaining mental health. Its tips included how to recognize signs of trauma from watching the attacks on television or from knowing people directly affected by them. Blood dri ' es were publicized and blood centers filled with people desperate to do something to help. Bomb threats all over the Bay Area, but specifically at the Development Center on Bancroft Way, prompted the campus to issue evacuation plans and bomb threat checklists to university departments. The checklists included questions to ask in the event of a phone threat, such as When is the bomb going to explode. Where is the bomb. What does it look like. What kind of bomb is it. ' Did you place the bomb. ' Why. ' Students, faculty, staff, and community members gathered all over campus to observe a moment of silence in memory of the victims of the previous week ' s attack on Friday, September 14. People on their way to class walked quietly through the silent groups. For a moment, the only sound was that of the wind in the trees. Even the people who streamed out of class for the noon hour did so in utter silence. On Monday, September 17, Memorial Glade saw the largest campus gathering since the 1960s. An estimated 12,000 people arri ' ed at noon for a non-denominational memorial service. All classes were canceled between noon and two. By 11, people had begun to gather on Sproul. Irises were distributed and a processional to Memorial Glade began. Once there, some people laid flowers by the side of the reflecting pool. Berdahl spoke. The Golden Overtones, the Men ' s Octet, the University Chorus, and ASUC Senatorjoanne Liu sang. Speakers included former poet laureate Robert Hass, writer and professor Maxine Hong Kingston (who conducted a meditation exercise she learned from Alice Walker), Anita Madrid, David Dowell, and ASUC President Wally Adeyemo. They spoke from a stage constructed specifically for the event and covered with yellow and white flowers. The fog rested silently. Police officers patrolled across the roofs of buildings, occasionally visib from below. At one o ' clock, the Campanile play as a river of people threaded quietly away throu the campus. The next day, the Daily Califoniian featurec cartoon sandwiched between its coverage of t memorial service that many students, staff, a: community members found offensive. Though t protesters demanded an apolog ' , the paper refias to grant them one, claiming that to do so wou violate the nation ' s ideal of freedom of the pre A National Student Day of Action transform Sproul Plaza on Tuesday, September 18. Protestt with a variety of different views and beliefs flood Sproul with signs and posters. Many studer sported green armbands as part of the Natior Green Armband Campaign to protest the wave backlash hate crimes that swept the nation in t wake of the attacks. According to the flie distributed with the armbands, wearing armband signified a certain pledge that I oppc scapegoating — 1 stand in solidarity with Ar; Muslim and Middle Eastern people, and I w speak out against scapegoating and offer to esc( and come to the aid of any Arab, Muslim, Middle Eastern person facing racist harassme or attacks. Protesters with signs denouncing t Daily Califoniian joined protesters with sig advocating a peaceful response and people w A candlelight vigil was immediately organized so students could gather to mourn on the night of September u. Thousands of candles illuminated Sproul Plaza as students filled the area that once served as the center of the Free Speech Movement. The Only Road t Peace is U.S. Out o the Middle East! NO RACIS agaiimstarab: anywhere («■» Tm proud o Barbara Lee.