A Davidson College affiliate of STAND, the Student Anti Genocide Coalition, is in the midst of a week of activities designed to “educate and energize” the community to take a stand against the genocide in Darfur, Sudan. It’s all part of a North Carolina Week of Action in which colleges across the state are hosting Darfur-related events. The Davidson effort includes a vigil this evening, Thursday, April 3, 6:30 pm at the flagpole outside the Chambers Academic Building, and a concert on the Belk dormitory lawn Friday from 7-9:30 p.m. (Friday update: Because of the weather, tonight’s concert has been postponed to Saturday, April 19, 7-9:30 p.m., same location.)
“The goal right now is really to raise awareness in North Carolina this week,” said David Poms, a Davidson sophomore and director of advocacy for Davidson STAND. He said people need to know that the genocide in Darfur is “still very active and we should end it before it gets much work. We should take action before that happens.”
Students joined a letter writing session on Monday, writing 40 letters to President Bush and others to media outlets. “One of our campaigns is to convince President Bush to make Darfur a more important issue,” Mr. Poms said.
On Tuesday, students heard a talk by Carl Wilkins, who was the only American to stay in Rwanda during that country’s 1994 genocide. Tonight’s candlelight vigil will focus on children, and will feature stories and drawings by Darfur’s children as well as a moment of silence.
Friday’s concert will include performances by four student groups: the a capella group The Delilahs, the stepping group Shades of Brown, and student bands Milo and The Pulitz Surprise.
In its materials promoting this week’s events, STAND says: “A silent genocide rages on in the Darfur region of Africa’s largest country, Sudan. For the first time in history, the US government has declared a genocide while the massacres are still ongoing. To date, as many as 400,000 have been killed and over 2.5 million have been displaced. In August 2006, UN Undersecretary Jan Egeland stated, ‘It’s going from real bad to catastrophic in Darfur.’ “
College kids aren’t the only people involved in this effort. At the Thursday night education forum in town hall, Davidson IB Middle School Principal Jo Karney informed the audience that IB Middle students will host a community walk for Darfur genocide awareness on Saturday, April 26, from 9 a.m. until noon. The middle schoolers paired with the Amnesty group at North Meck High to come up with the walk plans. Stay tuned.