The Palestinian flag fluttered against the breeze as Sasha Crouch made her way around NE Campus aimlessly.
The NE dual credit student has walked for roughly two to four hours every weekday since Oct. 28 as a form of solidarity with the residents of Gaza who have been victims of the war with Israel.
“I think in the grand scheme, what I’m doing for other people is they get to think about Palestine one extra time that day,” she said. “I want to show that I was on the right side of history.”
Crouch said she got the idea of showcasing her support when she saw someone carrying the Palestinian flag at a No Kings protest in Dallas Oct. 18, where people peacefully rallied against the Trump administration.
She said her voice may be small and unlikely to make a major change, but she hopes she can influence at least one other person to join her in showing support.
Crouch said she learned about Palestinian history as a part of her project for Global Elementary Model United Nations, a nonprofit organization that she has been a part of since she was 8.
“I didn’t even know what Palestine looked like. It’s actually two territories,” she said. “I didn’t know that before, like how did I go this long without knowing fundamental things about Palestine? In my opinion, that’s crazy.”
Jillian Hunter has been working with Sasha for GEMUN for nearly 10 years. She said she was introduced to the organization by Sasha’s mom through their co-op classes.
Hunter explained that students in the organization can serve in three roles. Delegates represent countries, write resolutions and take part in debates. Pages, typically younger students ranging from 8 to 10 years old, manage the note-passing system between delegates. High school students may join the secretariat and lead workshops and the chair committee.
“I have been in every single role because I’ve been in it for 10 years,” she said. “I am the secretary general this year. I am basically in charge of the entire secretariat.”
Upon researching more, Crouch said she discovered that there’s a 70% casualty rate among civilians in Gaza.
“I think you can go the extra way and just say ‘Yeah, it’s a genocide,’” she said.
George Nelson met Crouch in high school through Youth and Government, a nationwide YMCA program that immerses high school students in a model government setting. He described her as a unique and contrarian character.
“He will do things that are designed to grab attention in kind of a driven way,” said Nelson, who uses he/him pronouns to refer to Crouch, who describes herself as gender-fluid.“Whenever we would go to [debate] events, everyone was either wearing some grey suit or some black suit, he would show up in a pink suit.”
Nelson said he once brought Crouch to a Catholic church, and she showed up cross- dressing. Even though no one was weird about it, he said it is the kind of confrontational thing she does.
“He will do things he thinks will challenge the people around him,” he said. “It’s like he’s a walking protest.”
Another NE student, Arlo Hewitt, showed his solidarity through his zines, a small, self-published and handmade booklet that can be about any topic.
Hewitt’s zine about Palestine was the third he has created. Nov. 12 marked his second week of creating zines.
“Innocent people are just losing their lives for being where they’re at, for just existing basically, for living in Palestine,” Hewitt said.
He said he puts the zines in public places in hopes of receiving a reaction from someone.
“I have an email in the back if anybody needs to email me,” Hewitt said. “If they want to give me criticism or anything, I’m up to it.”
Hewitt said creating zines is a way to express his ideas, and he is the only person he knows that is passing them out.
Discovering Crouch while she was on her walk, Hewitt passed the zine to her and said he applauded Crouch for her efforts.
“I thought it was pretty courageous — what they’re doing,” he said. “I think what Sasha is doing is really cool, really kick a**.”
Hunter said she has known Crouch forever, and she always has great conversations with her whether it be politics or movies.
“We will talk for hours about politics and beliefs. We will agree on some things and disagree on some other things,” she said. “It is very refreshing to see that they are so educated in so many different things.”
She said she admired Crouch for exercising her privilege to speak up.
“I try to use my privilege as much as possible as a white person, like I have that and I try to use it for people that I can,” Hunter said. “I always admire that about [Sasha].”
