A New Generation Confronts the Moral Gray Zones of War

Ah, graduation season … remembering my own high school commencement, back in June 2005 …

Cruising to school one last time, I remember listening to a song that gave me a sense of both nostalgia and adventure, “America” by Simon and Garfunkel. Each refrain brought me to a simpler era, when beatniks and hippies roamed the earth:

“I’ve gone to look for America.”

That morning, as I sat among classmates and awaited my turn to walk, chills ran up my spine as the commencement speaker referenced that very same song in her address, along with the message: “Seek out a cause you believe in.”

This year’s graduating class, on campuses coast to coast, might appear different than past classes. Not in superficial aspects, like style and dress and music, but in values, beliefs, and priorities.

Our students have sought out a cause they believe in. And they, too, are looking for America.

Pop music is like a time capsule. When I graduated in 2005, post-9/11, in the midst of the Iraq War, a folk song from 1968 like “America” sounded like escapism. In fact, it was a protest. Less confrontational than “Fortunate Son” or “Gimme Shelter,” in the gentle voice of Paul Simon is the audible weariness of a country that lost its way in Vietnam.

Since World War II, each generation has faced a new, morally gray foreign war. And although the students of today don’t have to fear the draft — thank you, Vietnam protesters — they do face the horror of seeing their tuition money funneled to weapons manufacturers and AI surveillance companies, fueling a conflict in Gaza that has seen a record number of aid workers, journalists, professors, poets, women, and children killed.

I recognize that Memorial Day is meant to honor our fallen veterans, yet, increasingly, wars are fought with remote guided missiles and unmanned drones. While this style of combat protects our soldiers, it cannot numb us to the sanctity of civilian lives caught in the crossfire.

Forty-five-thousand-plus dead is not a mere statistic. Each number is a human being. Our youth innately recognize this, and that there must be another way. Otherwise, what are we doing here?

This past Mother’s Day, my husband and I visited the UCSB Gaza Solidarity Encampment to witness it for ourselves. As we arrived, we were welcomed by students, to share their food and peruse their makeshift library. Nearby, a man was strumming 1960s folk songs on his guitar. A vigil began shortly after 7 p.m., to honor the mothers of Gaza, and their children. Attendees brought plants from the community garden and were each handed a single flower to lay at an altar commemorating Hind Rajib, the 6-year-old Palestinian girl who cried out for her mother as Israeli snipers systematically executed the medical workers sent to rescue her. Poems of grief were read, a moment of silence followed, and attendees were given the chance to discuss and reflect. An hour later, the vigil ended, in time for the encampment’s prayers.

It gave us hope, for the first time in seven months, for the future.

Why does Gaza resonate with the youth? In part, because their leaders have failed them. Lindsey Graham thinks it’s reasonable to advocate dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza. And Democrats aren’t much better. Hillary Clinton recently gave a tone-deaf interview suggesting that student protesters “don’t know very much at all of the history of the Middle East, or even frankly about history in our own world.”

Nonsense. Instead of talking down to the public, perhaps politicians should listen up.

Start with the music. Retro rockers like Eric Clapton and Roger Waters are pro-Palestine, as are contemporary artists like Saint Levant and Anees. But the most explosive statement came from Grammy-winner Macklemore. In his latest single, “Hind’s Hall,” he lays out the full 76-year history of the Israel/Palestine conflict, and calls out the complicity of our leaders directly: Pushin’ everyone into Rafah and droppin’ bombs, The blood is on your hands, Biden, we can see it all.” Followed by a call-to-action aimed at our most American right: “And f*ck no, I’m not votin’ for you in the fall.”

Yes, the music is aggressive, but the cause is urgent. Peaceful protests are being met with unthinkable brutality, as students risk their physical safety — not to mention suspension or expulsion — all the way to graduation day. 

That said, the historic chaos of 1968 dwarfed our current moment, so don’t let anyone convince you this era is worse. It’s not. Back then, as now, peace is proving to be an uphill battle. As with most movements, it will be smeared, mischaracterized, and only be appreciated in hindsight.

This Memorial Day, this graduation season, our students are once again asking for an end to senseless bloodshed, and to hold their country accountable to ideals it has long promised but failed to provide. I hope, in the decades to come, we can look back nostalgically at the good these students accomplished. If only we give them the chance.

Jill Critelli, the Indy’s production designer, is a photographer and fine artist who cohosts “The Old Millennials,” a weekly radio show on 91.9 KCSB-FM, with her husband, Mike Critelli.