Community Corner
Walk Against Genocide
People from all over the Bay Area, including from San Ramon, gathered at Lake Merritt in Oakland Sunday in a show of solidarity for genocide survivors.
“We are a gentle yet angry people."
These were the words and sentiments of people from all over the Bay Area who participated in the first annual Walk Against Genocide on Sunday.
The San Francisco Bay Area Darfur Coalition organized the Walk to raise awareness about genocide and to educate the public about ongoing atrocities around the world.
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The three-mile walk was preceded by three keynote speakers, Mike Abramowitz, Rebecca Hamilton and Omar Ismail. All three speakers stressed the need for people to be involved in stopping genocide, especially by speaking to their state representatives.
“If our congress people see that their constituents care about this, they’ll take it seriously when genocide prevention legislature is proposed,” said Martina Knee, one of the co-chairs of the walk committee.
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This event was created as a result of a resolution passed by California state legislature that proclaimed April to be Genocide Awareness and Prevention Month, explained Knee.
“We wanted to draw attention to the fact that there are so many survivors of genocide and descendants of survivors,” said Knee. “It’s not so far away, it affects us all.”
Knee, whose mother was a Holocaust survivor, said that she hoped that the event would increase awareness about genocide.
“Educating people is important,” she said. “If you don’t know something is happening, you won’t care about it.”
Local students from , who participated in the Walk through their club Students Against Genocide, agreed with Knee that raising awareness was the most important way to get involved.
Freshmen Jennifer Kawaguchi said young people especially needed to be involved in the movement against these atrocities.
“Young people have an impact,” said Jennifer. “When people see that they have an interest, it will raise more awareness.”
Freshmen Mary Watson and sophomore Shelby Coiner added that education in school through classroom teachings and club events would help increase knowledge about the genocide happening around the world.
Like the people they walked with, the victims and survivors of the genocides in Rwanda, Burma, Sudan and Cambodia, these students hoped that their actions would help stop future genocide.
