What did you for Darfur?
JUNE 2006 Issue
Akron Jewish News
By Jennifer Chestnut
In 15 years when your kids are working on school history projects and ask what you did for the situation in Darfur, what will you tell them? This question bubbles in my mind and has since Sunday, April 30.
In our house, as with most families with two working parents and two small kids, Sunday is dedicated to housework, tag-team early morning childcare, a little outside time and, if we’re lucky, getting everyone to nap at the same time. But on April 30 we dedicated it to something else. We—yes, all four of us, including 4-year old Seth is 4 and 9-month old Martha—loaded in the minivan and headed for Washington, D.C. to attend the Save Darfur Rally to Stop Genocide.
The rally was moving, powerful, energizing, depressing, embarrassing and rewarding. By now you may have read the reports about the day’s speakers. They all made the event powerful and energizing, along with the 15,000 people in attendance. But it was depressing to realize the magnitude of what’s really going on in the Darfur region of Sudan. It was depressing to see the photos of the abysmal situation and of Sudanese people in attendance that have family there right now. It also shamed me to realize how little I did for the atrocities and genocides that have happened “on my watch.” What did we do about Rwanda? Not the US, but us, me, you; did you do anything? I didn’t. I was a thinking college student able to do something. But I did nothing.
It’s easier for me now. I work at a college and have the student manpower and the environment to do a little more than normal. But we owe it to ourselves, to the people of Sudan, to the memories of those who were killed in previous genocides that we may feel connected to (the Holocaust, Armenia, Rwanda,etc.) to do something. If nothing else, just learn more about the situation and talk about it with friends so they too are more aware.
Maybe we did nothing more than make ourselves feel better by attending the Save Darfur rally. I hope not. I hope that we were counted among the tens of thousands, so the Bush administration knows that the world is watching. I hope that you take three minutes to do something, too.
Chestnut is the director of Hillel at Kent State University.
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
Akron Jewish News
By Jennifer Chestnut
In 15 years when your kids are working on school history projects and ask what you did for the situation in Darfur, what will you tell them? This question bubbles in my mind and has since Sunday, April 30.
In our house, as with most families with two working parents and two small kids, Sunday is dedicated to housework, tag-team early morning childcare, a little outside time and, if we’re lucky, getting everyone to nap at the same time. But on April 30 we dedicated it to something else. We—yes, all four of us, including 4-year old Seth is 4 and 9-month old Martha—loaded in the minivan and headed for Washington, D.C. to attend the Save Darfur Rally to Stop Genocide.
The rally was moving, powerful, energizing, depressing, embarrassing and rewarding. By now you may have read the reports about the day’s speakers. They all made the event powerful and energizing, along with the 15,000 people in attendance. But it was depressing to realize the magnitude of what’s really going on in the Darfur region of Sudan. It was depressing to see the photos of the abysmal situation and of Sudanese people in attendance that have family there right now. It also shamed me to realize how little I did for the atrocities and genocides that have happened “on my watch.” What did we do about Rwanda? Not the US, but us, me, you; did you do anything? I didn’t. I was a thinking college student able to do something. But I did nothing.
It’s easier for me now. I work at a college and have the student manpower and the environment to do a little more than normal. But we owe it to ourselves, to the people of Sudan, to the memories of those who were killed in previous genocides that we may feel connected to (the Holocaust, Armenia, Rwanda,etc.) to do something. If nothing else, just learn more about the situation and talk about it with friends so they too are more aware.
Maybe we did nothing more than make ourselves feel better by attending the Save Darfur rally. I hope not. I hope that we were counted among the tens of thousands, so the Bush administration knows that the world is watching. I hope that you take three minutes to do something, too.
Chestnut is the director of Hillel at Kent State University.
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
posted by Vahe Balabanian at 4:35 PM
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