Two weeks ago, Stanford Israel Alliance co-hosted a screening of “Out in the Dark” with the Queer Straight Alliance. Having watched the film and its portrayal of a star-crossed relationship between a gay Palestinian resident of the West Bank and a gay Jewish Israeli and having spent a month in the West Bank primarily with queer Palestinians, the film felt both compelling and violent. What was compelling was the simple human desire to love and be loved, and watching a couple attempt to fight the structural barriers conspiring against them.

It is easy to see things as black and white (especially things like blackness and whiteness). My pledge for the coming nine weeks is to work against assuming people’s politics based on how I perceive them, to work to use language and ideas that are accessible outside of activist circles and to work to meet people where they are — to figure out where our common ground is.

I am confident that what we need is a movement of students to fight the colonialism, imperialism and racism that our state perpetrates at such large levels.