High school and college students from across the state learned about genocide and were encouraged to work to prevent it on Sunday during a conference titled, “Taking a Stand: Youth Against Genocide.”
“Each and every one of you can have a hand in stopping genocide,” keynote speaker Mark Hanis, one of the founders of the Genocide Intervention Network, told attendees. The conference concluded Holocaust and Genocide Awareness Week.
The event was held in conjunction with high school organization Students Taking Action Now Darfur (STAND), DU’s Never Again! and the Colorado Coalition for Genocide Awareness and Action (CCGAA).
Hanis tried to explain the dimensions and consequences of genocide anywhere in the world and to give tools to help prevent and stop it.
“My goal is to help students recognize that they need to get political. It isn’t just about awareness, but translating that awareness into effective political action,” Hanis said before his lecture.
Hanis explained that by forming Facebook groups, speaking out and pressuring their representatives, students had in the past been able to get their schools and their states to change their policies and stand against states involved in modern genocide.
He also discussed resources available to students, including a hotline which allows students to be connected to their state senator, representative or the White House so that they have the opportunity to voice their opinions about the genocide in Darfur.
“Things are changing and students are leading the charge,” said Hanis.
Following the keynote address, students were able to attend two workshops, which were focused on aspects of the genocide in Darfur and the history of genocide in general.
During lunch, a presentation was given connecting the nature of genocide to problems that students themselves might face.
“It is a short walk from bullying to hate crimes to genocide,” Barbara Coloroso, author of Extraordinary Evil: A Short Walk to Genocide told students.
Her talk reflected the conference’s second goal to make the issue of genocide relevant to the lives of the high school and college attendees.
After lunch lectures and workshops were focused on activism and understanding how people heal from genocide.
Speakers included Omahagain Dayeen, a college graduate forced to become a Darfuree refugee, Kur Kur, a man who was one of the group of boys who escaped the violence in Darfur and became known as the “Lost Boys” and Tim Kubik, former president of the United Nations Association.
“I felt like the conference was successful,” Never Again! Coordinator Joel Portman said. “It was a great way for DU to be publicly taking a stand educating its students and encouraging people in the community to be more active on this issue.”
