Pitt students rally: Darfur activists unite in D.C.

Several Pitt students joined thousands of others who rallied in Washington, D.C., on Sunday… Several Pitt students joined thousands of others who rallied in Washington, D.C., on Sunday to raise awareness of events in Darfur and to pressure the United States government to take action.

Waving signs saying “Make ‘Never Again’ a Reality” and “Stop Genocide Now,” the activists crowded together on the lawn of the Mall to listen to speeches from politicians, religious leaders, celebrities and prominent humanitarians.

The activists want the United States to lead and encourage other nations to put pressure on Sudan to stop the conflict, which began in 2003. So far, an estimated 400,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced, according to Amnesty International’s Web site.

More than 450 Pittsburgh activists rode to Washington on bus trips organized by the Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition, while others arrived separately.

Several Pitt students — who spent the previous night in Market Square as part of the Global Night Commute — awoke around 5 a.m. to board the buses and attend the rally.

Leah Fow, a junior and vice president of Facilitating Opportunities for Refugee Growth and Empowerment, a student organization dedicated to providing opportunities for refugees, was among the Pitt students present.

“The U.S. needs to get together with other world leaders to make [the genocide] stop,” Fow said. “The fighting shouldn’t go on one hour more than it needs to.”

A long list of prominent speakers included Barack Obama, D-Ill., Elie Wiesel, George Clooney and Rev. Al Sharpton. Obama, along with the other speakers, demanded action and awareness.

“Today we know what is right and what is wrong. The slaughter of innocents is wrong. Silence in the face of genocide is wrong,” he said.

Activists were encouraged when Rev. Gloria E. White-Hammond, chairwoman of the Million Voices for Darfur campaign, announced that people had signed 760,000 protest postcards. The campaign’s goal is to collect one million postcards to send to President George W. Bush.

Tanisha Douglas, president of Students Taking Action Now in Darfur and a junior at Georgetown University, rallied the many students in the crowd.

“Students stand at the forefront of the fight against genocide,” Douglas said.

Lissa Geiger, a Pitt sophomore who attended the rally, is a member of Pitt’s STAND chapter. She estimated that she helped get “maybe a couple hundred” of the Million Voices postcards signed.

Ellie Ott, a Pitt junior and member of FORGE, plans to work in a refugee camp in Zambia for two months this summer.

“I loved [the rally]. I loved the diversity of the people and the ages,” Ott said.

Although she wanted the speakers to give more information about how the conflict started, she said that the rally did give her “great hope and inspiration.”

STAND member Erica Auker, a senior, believes the rally will raise awareness and the government’s response to the issue.

“It’s a universal concern. The government can’t ignore that whole [rally],” she said.

“It’s another drop in the bucket of things that will eventually cause the president to do something really respectful and great regarding Darfur, even if that doesn’t happen tomorrow.”