On May 7, 2024, approximately 50 students and faculty from “USM for Palestine” held a silent, peaceful protest on the University of Southern Mississippi’s Hattiesburg campus, calling for the university to divest from Israeli-linked investments. The one‑hour demonstration featured sign‑holding and no arrests or counter‑protests—contrasting sharply with a confrontation at the University of Mississippi days earlier.

In October 2024, a growing number of Mississippians rallied for a ceasefire in Gaza and full Palestinian liberation, despite the state’s continued political and financial alignment with Israel. Starting with small vigils and led by diverse organizers—including veterans and students—these protests expanded across cities like Gulfport and Oxford, reflecting Mississippi’s civil rights legacy and highlighting internal tensions over the decades‑old conflict.

On October 23, 2024, around 40 people gathered in Oxford, Mississippi outside city hall for a vigil organized by UMiss for Palestine, honoring approximately 42,000 Palestinians killed since October 7, 2023. Attendees held tea candles, flowers, shared poems and reflection, and distributed informational materials. The event concluded peacefully—monitored by police and legal observers—with organizers urging sustained solidarity.

At the University of Mississippi, dozens of students protested Israel’s war in Gaza and demanded transparency on the institution’s ties to Israel. They were met by hundreds of largely white, male counter-protesters waving U.S. and Trump flags, chanting, and throwing items. Racist taunts—such as monkey noises directed at a Black woman—prompted wide condemnation. Police safely evacuated the pro‑Palestinian demonstrators.

Mary Heglar draws a trans‑historic parallel between Gaza’s deadly 2023 flood and the catastrophic 1927 Mississippi Flood. Both disasters stem from settler-colonial systems that defied Indigenous wisdom to control rivers. The essay links Gaza’s modern suffering to America’s past, revealing how systems of domination and ecological violence transcend time and geography.

On May 2, 2024, a small group of pro‑Palestinian students at the University of Mississippi called for academic divestment from Israeli-linked investments. They were confronted by roughly 200 mostly white male counter‑protesters who outnumbered and harassed them—throwing bottles, chanting slogans, and drowning out their messages. Campus police evacuated the student demonstrators within an hour.