Flag Exhibit on SXU’s front lawn Javell Shepard
On Feb 25, the Students For Justice In Palestine (SJP) set up a flag exhibit to represent the number of lives lost in Palestine. The exhibit stayed up for a week before being taken down and passed on to Columbia College for them to display. The exhibit was installed by the main entrance, between Lot 12 and the McDonough Chapel.
The exhibit is a collection of 23,000 flags that are used to create a large Palestinian flag. Written on some of the flags are the names of people in Gaza who have been murdered by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF).
When the initiative was started in February, the number of flags accurately reflected the death toll. Since then the number of people slain in Palestine has risen dramatically.
“Some flags remain nameless, as there are still bodies under the rubble that have not been identified. This is our way of honoring the lives of our martyrs from afar,” said SJP President Jena Kanaan, when asked about the exhibit earlier in the month.
There were also signs in front of the exhibit. One read “honor our martyrs” and the other told viewers the purpose of the exhibit, which is to “honor the Palestinians murdered in Israel in the genocide on Gaza.”
She described the day the exhibit went up as “extremely long and exhausting for us”, though she added that “our exhaustion is not a mere fraction of the families of our martyrs and our suffering brothers and sisters in Palestine.” The club started work around noon and took five hours to place all the flags.
The exhibit is an initiative started by The University Of Chicago’s SJP and has since been passed on to Loyola University and DePaul University. When the initiative was started, the flags accurately represented the death toll in Gaza. Now, according to Al Jazeera, 31,000 people have been killed and over 72,000 have been injured as the IDF continues to attack the Gaza Strip.
Kanaan described the process of getting this exhibit approved as not being extremely difficult, and that the time between request and approval was short. This is the first time a display like this has been put up on campus, and as such, the administration had many questions about how it would work.
Kanaan also had her own questions, though she said that when she looked through Saint Xavier’s student handbook to find any information on fixed exhibits, there was nothing written.
Even though the concept of a fixed exhibit was new to SXU, the school was ultimately behind it. She said that The Office of the Dean of Students had many questions about the exhibit, but eventually returned to the SJP with “immense support.”
On the club’s behalf, Kanaan stated “We are extremely grateful for the support and opportunity to go through with our proposal.”
The exhibit recently gained recognition from the larger pro-Palestinian community. On Mar 4, clothing brand @wearthepeace posted footage of SJP putting up the exhibit on their Instagram with the caption “Love to see this in our home city. Keep making noise in any way possible. Free Palestine.” The post has gained 307k views and over 34k likes. In response, SJP commented, “We will honor all our martyrs.”
As the genocide continues, the SJP has remained dedicated to its hope that one day the people of Palestine will be free from the occupation. Currently, they have two events planned for Apartheid Week, which will take place next week.
The first will be a chalk mural activity on MAr 19, and the second will be a discussion with Deanna Othman, a member of the American Muslims for Palestine, about the state of Gaza since the genocide began on Mar 22.
To keep up with the SJP, students can follow them on Instagram @sjpsxu_ or The Den. For any questions about upcoming events, students can email Kanaan at kanaan.j01@mymail.sxu.edu.