Letter to the Editor 4, 10/9/08

Dear Editor,’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Although I am not a member of Pitt’s Students Taking Action Now for… Dear Editor,’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Although I am not a member of Pitt’s Students Taking Action Now for Darfur group, I was offended and disappointed by Giles Howard’s column ‘STAND missing the full issue,’ which dismisses their actions and convictions. ‘ ‘ ‘ The author repeatedly criticized the student group’s focus on the genocide in Darfur by insisting that their real concerns should consist only of the actions of our own government, and not those of cruel dictators a hemisphere away. I don’t think anyone would disagree that we should stand up for what we believe in when it comes to the actions of our government. In fact, many people do work to raise awareness of the disagreeable policies of our country’s leaders. ‘ ‘ ‘ The fact of the matter is this: Asking people to focus single-mindedly on the issues most relevant to their patriotism and ignore all other atrocities in the world is as naive and pointless as asking a presidential candidate to rank the biggest issues of our time in order of importance. All of these issues are of grave importance, and they all require action simultaneously. If we wait until the United States government conducts itself with unwavering honor and morality before we take on the mass killing of innocent people in Africa, we’ll be waiting a hell of a long time. ‘ ‘ ‘ The students of STAND put a lot of time and hard work into defending what they believe in and mobilizing students to work toward awareness and action on our campus.’ Perhaps the author of this article should focus his all-encompassing knowledge of world issues on contributing to this group of proactive students, rather than writing college newspaper articles criticizing them. Alexa Ray School of Pharmacy