On the afternoon of Sunday, Oct. 6, several volunteers from the Northern Colorado Liberation Coalition came together one day before the anniversary of the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war Oct. 7, 2023.
The path started at Fort Collins City Hall and travelled down College Avenue to Harmony Road before going back up South Timberline Road to create a U-shape that spanned 9.05 miles.
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“I’m feeling a lot of the collective grief just around everyone who is suffering right now. Maybe nothing that any of us do today directly stops anyone (or) any bomb from falling, but maybe something that we’re doing today helps someone wake up a little bit.” -Anonymous volunteer
Volunteers drew chalk outlines of children along the path using stencils, each paired with the name of a child killed in Gaza. The names started with babies at city hall and ended with 18-year-old victims on Timberline. Flowers were placed sporadically along the path.
Statements like, “Our tax dollars are funding a genocide,” and, “16,500 children dead,” accompanied the outlines along the sidewalk. A UN impact snapshot published Oct. 2 estimated there were 11,355 Palestinian children confirmed dead in Gaza and more than 10,000 people reported missing or under rubble.
“We are trying to demonstrate this is what our taxes are funding,” said Kimberly Conner, the event coordinator. “People need to actually pay attention. And it is a local issue. Our own local businesses profit from this.”
The purpose of this event was different for every volunteer. For one volunteer in charge of drawing chalk outlines for the dead babies in Gaza, this demonstration was a way to release emotion and direct awareness of the conflict from the Fort Collins community.
“I’m feeling a lot of the collective grief just around everyone who is suffering right now,” said the volunteer, who chose to remain anonymous. “Maybe nothing that any of us do today directly stops anyone (or) any bomb from falling, but maybe something that we’re doing today helps someone wake up a little bit.”
This volunteer said creating a peaceful and creative memorial was the most effective way to express emotions surrounding the Israel-Hamas war.
“Even though we are a year out, a lot of America, especially, has returned to business as usual and is now embroiled with the election, but this is still ongoing,” the anonymous volunteer said. “This infuriating, disgusting display of, like, human depravity towards each other — I’m so angry, and it’s better to do something productive and maybe potentially helpful with that anger.”
For Martin Bates, a member of Veterans for Peace who showed up to deliver water and chalk to volunteers, this demonstration was more about the religious significance opposed to political ideologies.
“My wife and I went to Palestine this summer in June, and we met with Palestinian Christians and Palestinian people, and we were offered wonderful hospitality,” Bates said. “Some of the people we met were Christian Palestinians. So if you think about Christianity, … they should be our most revered ancestors of the Christian faith. They are the people who are descended from the people that Matthew and Luke and the apostles spoke with. So it’s vital that they be protected, and they’re being run off.”
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For Bates, assisting the volunteers with this chalk memorial means enshrining the legacy of Palestinian Christians.
“The Christians in Palestine are the fastest diminishing population over there,” Bates said. “I don’t think we think of it as political as much as human rights. You know, it’s easy to think that politics is what allows us to do this, you know, because we have certain constitutional rights. … But really why we’re doing it is a matter of heart.”
For another anonymous volunteer who is a graduate of CSU, their participation was to humanize the child victims.
“What really brought me here was my sister had a baby a couple weeks ago, and there are children his age, which is about 2.5 weeks, on this list,” the anonymous volunteer said. “And I don’t think people necessarily put together the child until they get to see a clear reference. … I think I’m just trying to feel like I’m doing more than just watching children die on Instagram and, like, maybe doing something that will help stop it.”
Reach Isabella Becker at entertainment@collegian.com or on Twitter @CSUCollegian.
