An image becomes powerful only after it is given an audience...

Please join me for a night of discussion and photographs regarding Sudan; a present-day perfect storm of corporate irresponsibility, a rouge regime, and the international community's lack of political will to prevent the greatest crime the world has ever known... genocide.

Graciously presented by: 4 Arts Inc. Gallery

www.4ArtInc.com

Robin Rios, Owner/Director

RSVP: 312.850.1816 | rrios@4artinc.com   Read More »

So, in school this past week, our chapter of Students Against Genocide group decided to show the senior ethics classes the documentary, " Facing Sudan" which is absolutely terrific, by the way. When I first watched this movie, the pictures alone got to me. I nearly cried after witnessing the terrible malnutrition that is taking place, and the beatings, rapings, and killings. I think that we should try to find a site that has this movie available and stream it to make others aware of the tragedies of genocide going on in Sudan today. Any thoughts on this... please post back or message.

-Will

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

Save Darfur Coalition cause on facebook.com is now making a lot of different and calling upon people to raise awarness about the on going Genocide in Darfur. Therefore, if any of you guys have facebook or want to join.. You can add the Save Darfur cause on your page and invite friends to it too..

here is hte link to cause and joining.

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/view_cause/72?recruiter_id=1087068&h=ppn