Background:

April 2024 was an historic time period for our Carolina student community that will live in the University’s archives for decades to come. As the Israeli-led and U.S.-backed genocide in Gaza continued escalating, UNC Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) organized an encampment in Polk Place calling attention to their demands for UNC’s disclosure of its Endowment Fund and divestment from investments that profit from the genocide in Gaza.

UNC Chalkaa was invited to perform at the White House by V.P. Harris’s Office:

UNC SJP erected the Triangle Gaza Solidarity Encampment on April 26, 2024. Earlier that week, on April 22, UNC Chalkaa, UNC’s premier South Asian American Bollywood-fusion dance team, received an email from Avni N. Patel who works as the “Public Engagement & Intergovernmental Affairs Advisor” for the White House Office of the Vice President Kamala Harris.
Chalkaa recently gained fame and awards for their performances in the inter-collegiate Desi Dance Network (DDN) competitions across the country, having been selected as one of eight teams across the entire nation for the national DDN finals, known as Legends. 2024 was Chalkaa's second year in a row heading to Legends, following back-to-back wins at qualifying competitions with over 150 teams competing nationwide. 

“Rejecting the invite was a difficult but empowering decision. Initially, we were excited and honored by the opportunity to perform at such a high-profile event,” said 2024 Chalkaa captain Diya Bhatt. “However, as events unfolded, it became clear that standing by our values was far more important than any performance opportunity.”

After witnessing their fellow UNC students be brutalized and sanctioned for practicing their constitutional right to free speech, Chalkaa sent a reply email to the V.P. Office rejecting the invitation and explaining their reasoning. V.P. Harris was known for her steadfast commitment to arming the Israeli genocidal campaign, her refusal to call for a ceasefire, and her support for universities’ repression of the Student Intifada. 

In their email, Chalkaa explicitly “rebuke[d]” V.P. Harris’s support for student repression and the genocide in Gaza and stated that they “will not support any events put on by the White House” while Harris remains complicit. Chalkaa also called out the Harris administration and other U.S. government officials’ inciteful rhetoric and overt support for repressing university protests and encampments across the country. Chalkaa mentioned their personal horror at the actions taken against UNC protesters and attached images of the police brutality at the flagpole on April 30. They ended their email with, “We hope you will act on this message and convey this to the VP herself.”

“We could not stand by and witness the mistreatment of our peers,” Bhatt said. “We decided the most effective way to respond was by rejecting the invitation. This was not only a stance against the repression we saw on campus but also a statement about our values as South Asian Americans, particularly in solidarity with Palestinians and all oppressed groups.”

Almost a week later, on May 7, Patel finally responded to Chalkaa’s invitation refusal and message request. Patel said that she and other members of the V.P.’s team want to set up a meeting with Chalkaa to “hear [their] concerns regarding the conflict in the Middle East” and asking for some potential times for the meeting. Chalkaa responded with some dates for a potential meeting, and then Patel responded on May 13 asking to push their meeting to the next week.

By May 21, Patel still had not responded to Chalkaa’s proposals for potential meeting times, so Chalkaa sent a follow-up email. On May 24, Patel responded saying that they “would still like to have this conversation with [Chalkaa]”, and saying she’ll send some proposed times for meeting next week. Chalkaa responded once again, re-affirming their willingness to join a meeting to discuss their concerns and expressing their availability for the next week. Since then, Patel never followed up or replied back. 

UNC Chalkaa stands in solidarity with the pro-Palestine Student Intifada:

The V.P.’s Office responded quite eagerly and promptly when Chalkaa had originally accepted the invitation, but as soon as Chalkaa expressed their concerns over the V.P.’s support for genocide, Patel slowed her responses and eventually ghosted them.

“As South Asians, many of us have family histories shaped by colonialism and partition, so it’s impossible not to see the parallels with what’s happening in Gaza. Solidarity is about more than just words—it’s about actions. That’s why we made the choice we did,” Chalkaa executives said.

Ironically, the V.P. Office’s invitation for Chalkaa to perform at an event celebrating AANHPI heritage didn’t seem to deem solidarity with Palestinians (who are also Asians) as worthy of celebration. V.P. Harris’s own identity as a Black and South Asian American woman is put to shame by her unceasing commitment to massacring Palestinians and other communities in the Middle East/West Asia. V.P. Harris had a chance to honor her family’s heritage in the White House, being the first woman of color V.P., yet stained her legacy with the blood of Palestinian children. Her faux rhetoric expressing sympathy for Palestinians means nothing as she continues materially and discursively supporting the Zionist regime. As South Asian Americans ourselves, we forsake Harris for weaponizing her identity solely for electoral purposes rather than for meaningful representation or social change.

When asked about how V.P. Harris uses her identity as a South Asian woman in her politics, Chalkaa executives commented, “It’s disappointing, to say the least. As someone who represents both South Asian and Black communities, she has such a powerful platform to advocate for real change. Instead, she continues to support policies and actions that harm Palestinians and other marginalized communities. Around this time [of the AANHPI Night performance], she was likely preparing for her presidential campaign, and it’s frustrating to see her prioritize politics over people. Her actions don’t reflect the values she claims to stand for, and it’s hard not to feel let down by that.”

Nevertheless, such micro-moments of solidarity should be celebrated and applauded. Activism is not just limited to encampments and rallies but also arises with everyday acts of resistance. Chalkaa chose to stay committed to their ideals despite this impressive opportunity presented to them. By setting this precedent, Chalkaa has proven that South Asian Americans still stand firmly in solidarity with the Palestinian cause. Our people have faced the horrors of colonialism, with many of our grandparents or great-grandparents having lived through the British Raj. Eerily similar, India and Pakistan gained their independence and were partitioned in 1947 — which is the same year as the U.N. Partition Plan for the British Mandate of Palestine. 

Only through united solidarity can our shackles be broken. UNC Chalkaa and Monsoon stand in unwavering solidarity with UNC SJP and other pro-Palestinian organizations, with the Global Student Intifada, and with the Palestinian anti-colonial struggle for liberation. We sincerely hope other student organizations, especially other South Asian-interest and cultural groups at UNC, will recognize the urgency of this moment and join our cause too.

MORE ABOUT THE ENCAMPMENT:

Leading up to the April 2024 Triangle Gaza Solidarity Encampment:

Since October 2024, UNC SJP and allied student organizations had repeatedly called on the University to disclose its financial holdings in the UNC Endowment Fund (overseen by the UNC Management Company) and divest from investments and financial holdings in arms companies and Boycott, Divest, Sanction (BDS) targets who profit from the occupation, apartheid, and genocide in Gaza. But the University had refused to acknowledge SJP’s demands in good faith. To escalate their demands, students resorted to making an encampment, following the footsteps of previous UNC student protests calling for divestment from apartheid South Africa in the 1960–70s. 

Timeline of the Triangle Gaza Solidarity Encampment:

Dubbed the “Triangle Gaza Solidarity Encampment” and co-organized with Duke and N.C. State SJP chapters and other pro-Palestinian organizations, the demonstration began on April 26, 2024 at 10 A.M. when around 100 demonstrators set up tents in Polk Place. Demonstrators were committed to staying at the encampment indefinitely until the University administration heeded their demands. For four days, the encampment remained peaceful, with demonstrators partaking in teach-ins, watching films on projectors, sharing community-funded meals, performing namaz and Passover seder, and chants and rallies. Attendance peaked on Day 3 (April 28) when the encampment held a rally/march that attracted an estimated 1,500 attendees.

On the fifth day of the encampment, April 30, (which was also L.D.O.C. for the 2024 spring semester) at around 5:40 A.M., the campers were woken from their sleep by one UNC administrator and told they needed to clear out the encampment by 6 A.M. or else they would face academic sanctions and/or arrest from police. The campers stayed firm in their demands and refused to be intimidated against their constitutional right to free speech and assembly. So within 20 minutes, right at 6 A.M., over 50 UNC-employed police officers, later including many armed in full riot gear, from across North Carolina descended on the encampment, ransacked the tents, dragged students away, and detained 36 demonstrators. Some students reported having concussions, dislocations, and other injuries from the police aggression. That same morning, Interim Chancellor Lee Roberts sent pictures of the ransacked encampment and a message to the Carolina community attempting to justify the police response. Roberts also set up waist-high fences (the same ones used during Silent Sam protests) around Polk Place to deter further protests there. 

At 11:30 A.M. on the same day, UNC SJP and allied organizations called for a walkout, vigil, and emergency rally at Polk Place to support the arrested demonstrators and re-assert their demands. During this rally, autonomous individuals and protesters pushed down the fences enclosing Polk Place, removed the American flag from the flagpole, and replaced it with the Palestinian flag showing that the early morning repression had not deterred their commitment to the cause. When this happened, Roberts led an aggressive entourage of over 30 UNC police towards the demonstrators at the flagpole, trailed by enthusiastic pro-Israeli counter-protesters. Roberts smirked while the police attacked students, tackled them to the ground, knocked over wheelchair users, pulled protesters by their hair, ripped shirts, pepper sprayed, etc. Some pro-Palestinian demonstrators alleged that police and counter-protestors called them slurs and attacked them. The Carolina community reeled from the police violence, and the remaining L.D.O.C. classes were cancelled as the University declared a Condition 2. The Campus Y, an invaluable resource for many UNC students and organizations, was also temporarily shut down by Roberts without any official explanation for several days after the protest on April 30.

Today, UNC SJP and allied organizations continue to stand by their demands for UNC to disclose its Endowment’s financial holdings, which are funded by students’ tuition and North Carolinians’ tax dollars, and divest from financial ties to the Israeli war machine. As of our knowledge, the University has yet to hold good faith negotiations regarding their demands.