Sproul Plaza, 1992

This piece first appeared in Shuffleboil, in November 2007.

For a small city, Berkeley, California gets a lot of attention. Having experienced New York City, the Limelight in Atlanta circa 1980, and West by God Virginia, I don't always see why. Then a memory surges up.

October 1992.

Muslim and Jewish student unions rally on Sproul Plaza for embattled Bosnians.

An old black man with a bible heckles them.

A Muslim woman takes the microphone and says "right on, salaam alaikum".

The old man responds in what is either high-speed Arabic or a comedy imitation. "But I'm not a Muslim!" he finishes, in a manner which suggests he is proud of his Arabic.

A Jewish boy approaches. The old man yells: "Get away from me! I will destroy you!"

A Muslim man describes his memories of a flare shot into a town from Serbian-controlled mountains: the flare hanging in the night sky over an apartment building; fleeing inhabitants picked off by snipers, dropping like discarded toys.

The old black man makes train whistle sounds. He spits.

An old white man brandishes a bible and yells something about abortion mills.

The Muslim man says: in 1492, when Jews were driven from Spain, Bosnians welcomed them. The old white man yells: "the Jews were driven out because they're evil!"

A crowd of Asian teenagers appear. They dance through the crowd, banging gongs and waving banners, like a tapeworm working its way through someone's gut.

The Muslim man summons up some reserves of good nature.
"That was a nice musical break."

Maybe Berkeley does stand out.