Page One

A protest of a “blatantly racist” cartoon appearing in the Daily Californian on Tuesday ended Wednesday morning with the arrest of 18 demonstrators who had refused to leave the campus paper’s offices. 

A group of some 150 protesters filled the sixth floor of Eshleman Hall on the UC Berkeley campus where the Daily Cal is located and demanded a written apology for printing the controversial cartoon. The cartoon, drawn by syndicated cartoonist Darrin Bell, is a satire of the terrorists who carried out the suicide attacks last week. The terrorists are depicted with long, large noses, beards, turbans and robes. While burning in hell, they say that now that they had made it to paradise, they would “meet Allah, and be fed grapes, and be serviced by 70 virgin women.”  

“It’s blatantly racist,” said Roberto Hernandez, member of MEChA de UC Berkeley, a Mexican-American student organization. “It classifies Arabs, Muslims and Sikhs as the same people and all with a sense of responsibility for what happened last week. That only increases the scapegoating and harassment of what those communities are going through. It’s complete irresponsibility to publish such nonsense.” 

In an interview Wednesday afternoon, Janny Hu, editor of the Daily Cal, defended her decision, arguing that the cartoon was no different than those running in papers across the country. “It’s meant to be satiric, a characterization, an exaggeration,” she said. 

“I don’t know what he was trying to say,” Hu said, contending that the cartoon’s interpretation is up to the viewer. “It isn’t a statement of fact.” 

Hu further argued that her decision not to apologize to the Muslim and Arab communities was an expression of what the United States stands for – freedom of speech and freedom of the press. 

Muslims, Arabs and Sikhs all over the United States have been verbally and physically abused, some even killed after last week’s attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Sit-in participants were members of the Muslim Student Association, the Arab Student Union, Students for Justice in Palestine, MEChA, the Sikh Student Association, the Afghani Student Association, Stop the War Coalition and the Black Student Union.  

Protesters recalled an incident when the Daily Californian published a full-page ad last February that said slave reparations should not be paid to blacks. African Americans, in fact, had profited like other Americans from slavery, the ad said. Conservative David Horowitz paid for the ad. After a group of black students protested, the paper printed an apology for running the ad. 

“There’s precedence for this,” said Maryam Gharavi, a film and English junior at UC Berkeley, referring to the earlier incident. “We’re not happy and we demand an apology.” 

Tuesday’s protest began when two students showed up at the newspaper office at 2 p.m. to voice concern over the cartoon. Through word of mouth the two students grew to about 150 by 10:30 p.m. Students took turns leading the group in chants. 

“What do we want?” a student with a megaphone asked the crowd. “An apology!” they answered in unison.  

The building closed around midnight and protesters could neither get in or out. Friends and supporters brought food to the protesters, but campus police refused to let them enter the building. 

Using material from symbolic green arm bands used by the protesters, a rope was created and a bag was tied at the end of it. The rope was lowered from a balcony in the sixth floor to the ground level and used to bring up peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and water. 

“The people here are showing an incredible sense of solidarity,” said David McClure, a junior who is a member of the Stop the War Coalition.  

It was past 1 a.m. The students had food but no response from the paper.  

“If they really wanted to apologize you wouldn’t have to interview me at 1 a.m.,” said Abdul Zahzah, a graduate in mechanical engineering. “The demands were handed to them at 4 p.m.” 

At 1:33 a.m. a newspaper staff member handed a written statement to one of the protest leaders. The room fell silent as he read: 

“The Daily Californian will not issue an apology for the publication of Darrin Bell’s work. The cartoon solely represents the perspective of one individual… Cartoons are usually exaggerated, sometimes satire and are almost always meant to spark a discussion.”  

Because its demands had not been met, the group refused to leave. At 1:40 a.m. protesters begun discussing the possibility of arrest. At 3 a.m. the Muslim Student Association decided that Muslim, Arab, and Sikh students could not risk arrest. Other students also left. The crowd of protesters that remained agreed to be passive, non-violent and cooperate with police. 

“We need to remain calm,” said Snehal. “Don’t panic. Does everybody understand the plan?” 

The group of 18 held hands in solidarity. Most had never met so they began introducing themselves.  

“We have nothing to be afraid of,” said Mark Lipman. “We’re in the right. The truth is on our side.” 

Lipman, 33, lives in Paris, France, but was visiting Berkeley as part of a book tour when the terrorist attacks occurred last week. The poet and writer said he has not been able to leave the country since. He said he will be part of the movement to prevent war until he is able to fly back to Paris.  

At 3:10 a.m. police gave protesters the option to leave the building. They did not. At 3:24 a.m. police began reading the penal code violation. 

“This is the proudest moment of my life,” said Lipman as police made the first arrest. “To be here doing this with you guys.” 

The last member of group was taken away and cited at 3:59 a.m. 

Wally Adeyemo, Associated Students’ president, said both the protesters and police handled themselves well.  

“Considering the fact that we were arresting people it’s going as well as it could possibly go,” said campus Police Chief Victoria L. Harrison. “We prefer not to arrest anyone, but we appreciate that they’re being cooperative and following the instructions of the officers.”  

After their arrest, the students were cited and freed. 

Judith Scherr, of the Daily Planet staff, contributed to this story.