Photo credit: Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
As protests over the war in Gaza continued on campuses around the country, sparking some condemnation from the White House on Tuesday, the United States’ ambassador to the United Nations visited Philadelphia and encouraged high school students here to “make their voices heard.”
Linda Thomas-Greenfield spoke to students at William W. Bodine High School for International Affairs after a private meeting with six Palestinian students at the school.
”I just met with six of your classmates who gave me a very hard time on what our policies are in Gaza,” she told the students. ”And what I said to them, and I say to you, is you need to make your voices heard. And you have the opportunity with a member of President Biden’s cabinet to make your voices heard on any number of policy issues and it’s not something that young people around the world always get the opportunity to do.”
The school did not make the Palestinian students available to talk to reporters.
Thomas-Greenfield, in an interview with The Inquirer said It was an “extraordinarily emotional,” conversation.
”They were angry but respectful. I will say that and they had this sense that nobody is listening to them.”
The Biden administration on Tuesday condemned the actions of protesters at Columbia University, who took over and barricaded themselves in a building on campus early Tuesday.
”President Biden has stood against repugnant, Antisemitic smears and violent rhetoric his entire life. He condemns the use of the term “intifada,” as he has the other tragic and dangerous hate speech displayed in recent days,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement Tuesday.
Thomas-Greenfield said if protest speech crosses into promoting violence it shouldn’t be tolerated.
“I think if you want to have your voice heard, you can’t do it through violence. You can’t do it through hatred. And we’re seeing some of that,” she told The Inquirer.
Thomas-Greenfield has herself faced protesters, most recently at Georgetown University, for three votes cast on behalf of the Biden administration against immediate cease-fires in Gaza.
After the February vote, Thomas-Greenfield said that the resolution would have jeopardized negotiations to broker a deal that would release hostages in exchange for a temporary humanitarian cease-fire.
In March, The UN Security Council adopted a resolution demanding a ceasefire in Gaza, which the United States allowed to pass by abstention.
Asked in Philadelphia Tuesday if she was hopeful about cease-fire talks in Egypt, Thomas-Greenfield said “We’re hearing positive noises now that a deal may be reached. I have to remain hopeful.”
Thomas-Greenfield is only the second Black woman to hold her post. She’s made increasing diversity in the diplomatic corps a goal of her tenure and often visits schools and colleges.
The questions in her larger meeting with Bodine students, pre-approved by the school, were largely about Thomas-Greenfield’s biography and 35-year career in public service.
She encouraged students to consider a path in diplomacy, stressing its importance, especially in war times.
”I know as young people of color you can look at me and know that this is an option for you,” she told the students. “When we look at what’s happening around the world, we look at the death, the carnage, the suffering it’s so much easier … to pretend it’s not there. But I know because I do get up in the morning that it is going to matter to somebody and that’s why I’m able to continue to do this job.”
Reposted from The Philadelphia Inquirer by Julia Terruso