Taryn Thomas, a former Black Lives Matter and pro-Palestine activist who helped organize demonstrations at Stanford University, says confronting the human reality of the October 7 massacre forced her to abandon the movement she once supported.
Thomas told Glenn Beck that she had been taught from the age of 16 that the liberation of Black Americans was connected to the Palestinian cause. After arriving at Stanford, she helped mobilize protests and participated in the early anti-Israel encampment established shortly after Hamas invaded Israel.
By October 20, 2023, activists at Stanford were already calling Israel’s response a “genocide,” Thomas recalled — before the families of many victims had even finished identifying their murdered relatives and before Israeli ground forces entered Gaza.
She said the movement became increasingly radical, with students afraid to express any position that was not completely anti-Zionist. Her doubts intensified after protesters broke into the Stanford president’s office in June 2024, caused extensive damage and spray-painted messages including “death to Israel,” “death to America” and “kill cops.”