Acorn

Never again, is too often said, Matthew Emry said. His passionate statement regarding the genocide in Darfur evoked a sense of obligation and responsibility in his audience.

Emry, the senior program officer of the American Jewish World Service Organization, was one of three panelists featured in the Darfur Day of Conscience Community Forum. This forum concluded a day full of programs concerning the poor human rights situation in Darfur, Sudan.

Tuesday began with an educators? workshop in Drew?s University Center that featured high school teachers taking stands against the proclaimed genocide in Darfur. The following session open to the community presented speaker Fatima, survivor of the tragedies in Darfur. Fatima?s speech entitled ?Conversation with a Witness? moved her audience and the educated members of the community about an issue described as ?hushed? and ?ignored? in current media.

According to Fatima, Sudan is entangled in a 20-year civil war that resulted in the deaths of over two million Sudanese civilians, and many millions more injured and traumatized.

The situation attracting particular attention in the past three years is that of Darfur, a western region of Sudan. In 2003, African rebel groups rose against an Arab-dominated Sudanese government, resulting in the formation of an Arab militia known as the Janjaweed.

Within a year, the militia committed heinous crimes against nonviolent African civilians, including mass murder, rapes and scorching villages. The situation was declared genocide by the U.S. Congress in 2004.

Experts speaking at these events informed the community that, since the declaration of genocide, little has been done to ease the suffering of the people of Darfur. Fatima, a resident of New Jersey for 15 years, conveyed the seriousness and desperation of his people. ?The Janjaweed gang-rape women next to their dead husbands,? she said, ?and tell them it is so they will have lighter-skinned babies.? Non-Arab men and children are killed or kidnapped, leaving women alone and vulnerable to attack. ?You can?t walk around without stepping on bones.?

Fatima spoke of how her brothers and sisters, as well as relatives from 21 neighboring villages, have been killed, displaced or are missing. ?This problem is in my heart, in my blood,? she concluded. At a forum in Washington D.C. Fatima spoke out against the U.S. ambassador to Sudan about how the Sudanese government hides information and threatens villages so they will tell the truth. Fatima did not release her last name for fear of the Sudanese government causing harm to her family that remains in Sudan. The Sudanese government considers Fatima an enemy of their country for speaking out against their government.

The following panel consisted of experts who have studied past genocides and are actively working to end and prevent further suffering. Alongside Emry was Matthew Levinger, consulting director for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and Assemblyman William Payne.

The two-hour forum presented the situation in Darfur and suggested further action that should be taken by the federal government. Several activist groups have already formed, raising millions of dollars to aid Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs) in ?concentration camps? in Darfur. However, according to Emry, the loss of a promised $50 million grant from the federal budget deterred many of these aid initiatives.

Payne represented the legal and political side of this dilemma. As the primary sponsor of N.J.?s recent bill A 3482, Payne was proud to inform community members that New Jersey is the first state to divest from companies doing business with Sudan. According to this legislation, the Division of Investment in the

Department of the Treasury must ?divest state-administered pension-fund investments from companies, banks and financial institutions that have ties to Sudan? within the next year.

The bill started a ?ripple in state legislature? and will be followed by other state governments shortly, Payne said.

The panel moderated by Professor of English Geraldine Smith-Wright yielded a large turn-out with as many students as members of the community. The events were hosted by Drew?s Center for Holocaust/Genocide Studies. An assistant at the center, freshman AnnJay Boatman, added that she hopes the events will influence students to ?follow the example of the state and rally for Drew to divest any monies in companies associated with Sudan.?

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