 "Photo: Dan Bracaglia/ Multimedia Editor")
Hundreds of students and community members stood together outside Rutgers Hillel yesterday and drowned out the voices of the Westboro Baptist Church protesting on the opposite side of College Avenue.
“[Rutgers Hillel] was so happy with the turnout,” Hillel Student Board President Hilary Neher said. “We’re so happy that all of these people came out to stand with us against hate. [The counterprotest] was peaceful and it was tasteful, and that’s exactly what we wanted.”
Six members of the Topeka, Kan., based group, known for protesting outside funerals of fallen American servicemen, protested at the corner of Mine Street and College Avenue with signs saying “God Hates You” and “Fag University.”
The group arrived and left earlier than scheduled, and protested from about 8:15 until about 8:35 a.m. The protest had been scheduled to take place between 8:45 and 9:15 a.m. yesterday.
Despite the early arrival and a rainy morning, students lined both sides of College Avenue surrounding Rutgers Hillel, forcing the Westboro Baptist Church, which had planned to protest in front of the Hillel, to move across the street.
Neher said the counterprotest was successful and united the community.
“Everything that we did was completely on our terms,” said Neher, a School of Arts and Sciences senior. “Nobody was looking at them, nobody was acknowledging them, everyone was focused [on Rutgers Hillel] and that’s exactly what we wanted.”
Lt. J.T. Miller of the New Brunswick Police Department confirmed that the protest remained peaceful and there were no arrests.
University officials estimated that more than 650 people attended the “Rutgers United Against Hate” rally, Senior Director of Media Relations Greg Trevor said.
The counterprotest featured performances by student a cappella groups Deep Treble, Kol Halayla and Shockwave, joint interfaith and diversity statements, and recitations of the University’s fight song.
“I’m amazed and grateful,” Executive Director of Rutgers Hillel Andrew Getraer said. “You just saw people from every aspect of the campus coming together, and I think that’s what it’s all about.”
The University has the third largest Jewish population of any campus in America, said Getraer of why he thinks the group protested near Rutgers Hillel.
“The impetus for the trip was Kosherfest. We were stopping at the colleges and high schools of New Jersey and Rutgers because they were raised on a lie,” said Megan Phelps-Roper, the granddaughter of the group’s founder and pastor Fred Phelps. “We’re to inject a little truth into this insane orgy of fag lies.”
The group protested at New Brunswick Public High School prior to coming to the University.
About 30 counterprotesters were present during the protest, Miller said.
“We finished at New Brunswick High a couple minutes early so we decided to get out here and get [started],” Phelps-Roper said.
The group has protested in more than 41,000 locations, according to its Web site.
Jael Phelps, a granddaughter of Fred Phelps, said the counterprotest was similar to the others she has been to.
“We’re not trying to convert anybody. We’re not trying to get anybody on our side. This is the typical showing,” Jael Phelps said.
Across the University students wore red today in opposition to the Westboro Baptist Church.
“Hopefully [members of the community] will carry with them the connection to one another that we all built here,” Getraer said. “Anything that unites people, that brings people together and makes them feel connected to one another is a positive thing.”
Across the street from the Hillel the Second Reformed Church hung rainbow colored flags and large banners which read “Love thy neighbor,” “Love your enemies,” “Let love be genuine” and “God is love.”
“We wanted big beautiful banners to overpower their puny hate-filled banner,” said the Rev. Barbara Heck at Rutgers Protestant Campus Ministries. “I almost have to thank Westboro Baptist Church for coming because it brought the campus together in a beautiful way.”
Students held signs saying “God is Love” and “Coexist,” and spoke out against the group’s message.
“I wasn’t planning on coming because I thought it would be best if we just ignored the picketers because attention is exactly what they want, but I decided to come because I saw a lot of Rutgers students were coming [and it was going to be a peaceful protest which is what was needed],” said Zaid Abuhouran, a School of Environmental and Biological Sciences sophomore.
Senior Dean of Students Mark Schuster said the group has a history of seeking media attention and he came out to support Rutgers Hillel to oppose messages of hate.
“I was also there to support the [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] community as an openly gay and proud LGBT administrator,” Schuster said.
Rutgers College senior and Busch Campus Council President Shaival Shah said he saw a group of students who were united against hate, and it was a good sign that the Westboro Baptist Church left early.
“There’s so many different groups that came together today for the purpose of uniting against the hate that does exist in this world,” said Sam Weiner, a School of Arts and Sciences sophomore. “It was an empowering site to see.”
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he said, "would be an act of cynicism and contempt" in a country "where social life is dominated throughout by humiliation and coercion."Edelman believed that it was his duty to speak out against injustice wherever it existed, with no exceptions. In later life, Edelman noted with dismay that the Israeli government, falsely claiming to act in the name of the entire Jewish people, was engaging in oppressive behavior of its own. Founded on land seized after 800,000 former
Palestinian residents had been violently expelled—to this day denied the right to return—Israel has no fewer than thirty laws which bestow rights upon Jewish citizens that are denied to Palestinians. Edelman resented the manner in which the oppression experienced by Jews was now offered as a justification for the oppression of another people, and remained a vocal defender of Palestinian rights to the end. For his insistence on moral consistency, Edelman, despite his heroism, has been largely ignored or denounced by many Israeli historians.Westboro Baptist Church may be a tiny fringe group. But their beliefs—that those who do not conform to their warped vision of a homogeneous, totalitarian world must be pushed to the margins of society—are dangerous. Like Marek Edelman, we must take a stand against oppression. Like Marek Edelman, we must not be afraid to speak out—and to act—even as others urge us to be silent. And like Marek Edelman, we must refuse to oppose some manifestations of bigotry only to endorse or ignore others.
[Linda MGSA '04]