The event started with a really great routine from the Jessie White Tumblers--they fly high! And IL Secretary of State Jessie White himself was there, in a jump suit, starting the whole event off with a heartfelt message of peace and the power of youth and individual citizens to make a difference.

We had really great speakers from communities affected by genocide, including Holocaust, Armenian, Cambodian, Bosnia, & Southern Sudan with Luol Deng of the Chicago Bulls. His presence drew in a lot of media. Here's a radio story & see below for more links (http://podcast.wbbm780.com/wbbm/725950.mp3).

We had a very moving speaker from Darfur, Fatima Haroun, who has spoken at other rallies on the east coast. State elected officials were on hand, including the author of the IL divestment law, Senator Jacqueline Collins, and her colleague in the House, IL Rep. Greg Harris, who shared a portion of a message from Senator Durbin, who could not be with us because he was going to Sudan! Ben Prochazka from national Save Darfur HQ in DC came and offered his "Why China & What To Do" message.

We had an Olympic Torch Procession, with Luol Deng holding the torch at the start of the procession and the other speakers following, surrounded by children holding colorful flags, evoking the colorful garments of the women of Darfur. When the procession returned to the stage, Deng handed the torch off. As each of the speakers addressed the crowd, a refugee from Darfur or Southern Sudan stood with her/him and held the torch. Deng was the last speaker. He did not introduce himself as a basketball player but as a fellow refugee. He handed the torch to Mohamed Abdelrhman Kauda, the President of the IL Darfur Association, who accepted it and thanked the community for their support.

Our own Steve Dishler closed the ceremony with words from US politician Edward Everett: "I am only one, but I am one. I can't do everything, but I can do something. The something I ought to do, I can do. And by the grace of God, I will."

We had great music by recently signed artists Trevor Menear and his band. He did a cut for "Instant Karma" called "John Sinclair." (Check him out on myspace or itunes or youtube.) We handed out his CD sampler, got over 200 signatures on letters to Hu Jintao, got signatures on our banner that will be in DC for the final leg of the torch relay, Instant Karma posters, Human Rights Watch info sheets, Team Darfur sweatbands, official event t-shirts, etc., and collected lots of donations (an unintended result of the giveaways).

It was great to have the crowd lining up for ice cream, signing and collecting stuff all at once while the Trevor Menear band played a rockin' set. It felt festive and hopeful.


ADDITIONAL MEDIA COVERAGE
Here are some of the news reports that mentioned the Chicago event(though I could not find our own NBC-5 coverage). The use of the wire services really helped & the presence of Luol Deng made the story spread across the country.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/2007-10-22-notes_N.htm
http://www.wgnradio.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=37327&Itemid=49
http://www.morrisdailyherald.com/articles/2007/10/22/state_news/751zdarfur.txt
http://www.wnct.com/midatlantic/nct/sports.apx.-content-articles-NCT-2007-10-21-0014.html
http://podcast.wbbm780.com/wbbm/725950.mp3
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-22rowboldnamesoct22,1,5164877.story
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/sports/20071022_Deng_and_Darfur.html
http://www.juf.org/news/local.aspx?id=27562

Hey--check out our new website for pictures, blogs, events, etc.

www.savedarfurchicago.org

Hey everyone--October 2007 is seeing a lot of action on Darfur in the Chicagoland area.

Oct 7-14: Please check out the Darfur/Darfur Projections at various locations by going to www.darfurdarfur.org.

Oct. 15: Divest Chase! Deliver petitions to the Chase Tower

Oct. 16 & 17: John Prendergast speaks in Chicago

Oct. 21: "Dream for Darfur" Olympic Torch Relay & Rally

Oct. 24: United Nations Day: Join partner Amnesty International on their "door-to-door" campaign to raise awareness.

The Chicago-area community of supporters of Darfur will converge on the Federal Plaza on Sunday, April 29, 6:30 pm, for a Rally and Candlelight Vigil, which will include national and state legislators, religious leaders, and entertainment by the Soul Children of Chicago. The event will begin with a Press Conference. It is a family friendly event. The focus of the call will be support for Illinois and Congressional divestment bills, seeking to remove our dollars from the possibility of funding the genocide in Darfur. Please see the listing of events for the group and sign up.

JOURNEY FOR HUMANITY--Coast-to-Coast Walk to Protest Genocide

A group of dedicated and concerned citizens of Armenian descent left California in June to journey and walk across the United States and thus call attention to the ongoing genocide and the legacy of genocide in the last century. They plan to reach Washington, DC, in November. In early October, they were in Chicago and inspired us with their commitment and with their description of a paradigm shift based on a belief in our power as individuals to affect change.

Read more about their ideas and follow their journey, by visiting www.journeyforhumanity.com.


To Contact Journey for Humanity, please call Hasmig (818-730-8130) or Ed (201-988-8314).

The Chicago Coalition to Save Darfur held a visual demonstration of our support for the immediate deployment of the peacekeeping force to Darfur authorized by UN resolution 1706. The event involved a dotted line of people along north Michigan Avenue, united by the UN-blue color of their t-shirts, each one holding a message in support of the resolution. Over 150 people participated--THANKS EVERYONE!

To see pictures, please go to this blogspot and click on the link in the lower right area where some photo previews are posted.
Link Thanks to Janessa for those.

If anyone else has video/photo footage, please send along.
REMEMBER TO DO A CHECK VIA ZIP CODE for all the events listed in the Chicago area.