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Members of the Golden I student group at Kent State held a daylong vigil on Risman Plaza on Nov. 8 in which they read the names of the Israelis who were killed by the militant group Hamas during a surprise attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7. 

The group started reading the names at 10 a.m. and was expected to continue until 3:30 p.m. when all 1,400 names had been read.  

The goal of the vigil was to acknowledge that the people who were brutally murdered were real people with real lives, said senior psychology/anthropology major Rose Martyn, vice president of Golden I. 

“A little over a month ago 1,400 people were brutally murdered, raped and beheaded,” said Martyn, who also is president of Hillel, whose members were present at the vigil. “Terrible, terrible things happened to them, and it can be easy to forget things like that. That was our goal today, to make sure everyone knows that we will not forget. We will never forget.” 

Martyn and other group members sat at a table and took turns reading the names, with memorial candles burning nearby. 

Golden I posted pictures on a display board of some of the adults and children whom Hamas murdered; their names, ages and other information were included. Some of the pictured individuals were among the more than 200 people who were gunned down at an outdoor music festival. There were also pictures of some of the people who were abducted to Gaza, where they remain in captivity. It is said that Oct. 7, 2023, was the worst single-day killing of Jewish people since the Holocaust. 

As Alhana Rucker, a sophomore aeronautical systems engineering technology major solemnly stood by, observing the vigil, she talked about the senselessness of killing innocent people. She also remembered her family members and friends who are in the armed forces ready to defend our country at this precarious time.   

“The main question is why – why do we continue to fight?” Rucker said, her voice quavering. “We’re all human yet we continue to fight against each other.”