Liberation movements start with the young: GWU professor

Liberation movements start with the young: GWU associate professor

George Washington University student among many protesting
They want divestment from companies advancing Israel’s military efforts
‘We want to help them become the change they want to see in the world’

Updated: Apr 26, 2024 / 06:07 PM CDT

WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — An associate professor at George Washington University says she’s proud to be “standing in solidarity” with students as they protest Israel’s war in Gaza.

“We teach our students to not only utilize their voice but to also make sure that they are paying attention to the world around them,” Imani Cheers told “NewsNation Now” on Friday. “We want to help them become the change that they want to see in the world.”

Student protests over the Israel-Hamas war have popped up on an increasing number of college campuses following last week’s arrest of more than 100 demonstrators at Columbia University.

The students are calling for universities to separate themselves from any companies that are advancing Israel’s military efforts in Gaza — and in some cases from Israel itself.

Cheers said she’s been so inspired by the students’ voices that she wanted her son to witness it.

“As I explained to my 10-year-old son, who I also took with me yesterday to this current encampment that is directly across the street from my office … I wanted him to see that every major liberation movement across the globe, but in particular, in the United States, has been started by young people.”

About 50 students at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., set up a tent encampment on the school’s University Yard on Thursday. Later in the day, a group of Georgetown University students and professors staged their own protest walkout and marched to the George Washington campus to join them. Like other protests, demonstrators are demanding that the university divest from Israel and lift a suspension against a prominent pro-Palestinian student group.

Cheers said she wanted her son to see that people not much older than him can make a difference.

“This is not me speaking as a faculty member, but as a parent. I have been raising my son to be very anti-apartheid,” Cheers said. “I grew up in South Africa; my son is half South African. So it’s very important. We’ve had these larger conversations. Today marks the 30th anniversary of the first democratic elections in South Africa’s history, which brought Nelson Mandela, a longtime anti-apartheid activist, to become Africa’s first president.”