Banquet Hopes to Raise Awareness about Darfur
Jonathan Monfiletto
Issue date: 2/21/08 Section: News
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The fraternity Phi Iota Alpha and STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition will host the banquet in the Library Concourse this Saturday, Feb. 23 from 6 to 8 p.m.
The banquet will consist of a buffet style dinner with a research paper presented by the Committee for African Research and Education (CARE), and possibly a guest speaker.
Johnny Jeter, president of Phi Iota Alpha and also a member of STAND, spearheaded the banquet effort.
"My main goal is to raise awareness of the genocide in Darfur," Jeter said. "The UN calls it a crisis, but in all honesty, it's a genocide."
According to Jeter, the situation in Darfur concerns the Muslim leaders in Sudan, who are in the majority as far as power, killing non-Muslim citizens in what he described as an "ethnic cleansing."
He likened the situation in Darfur to the genocide that took place in Rwanda about 15 years ago, except that Darfur's genocide is mainly religiously motivated while Rwanda's genocide was racially motivated.
"I just want to get a name out there," Jeter said, explaining that he wants people to become familiar with what is going on in Darfur so that something can be done to stop it.
Jeter became motivated to make the campus community aware of the genocide in Darfur after writing a research paper about the situation as a freshman last year. As part of his research, he conducted a study and interviewed a hundred people.
Of those hundred, he said about 75 did not know where Darfur was located while about 50 did not know about the genocide situation.
"I already knew about the genocide," he said. "[The study] motivated me to do something."
Jeter added that he also wrote a research paper about the genocide in Rwanda while in high school and that he has researched the two genocide situations extensively.
Originally, Jeter had thought of holding a program on Darfur to raise awareness of the situation. However, he decided to host a banquet instead in order to broaden the effort. As president of Phi Iota Alpha, he wanted to work with STAND because that group has access to information regarding activism for Darfur.
Jeter called the banquet a "collaborative effort" between the two organizations. Like all banquets at UC, Jeter said his banquet will bring a form of a diversity to the campus.
However, he said that the banquet his organizations are hosting differ from the kinds of banquets that other organizations hold because it consists of more than just promoting the name of the group.
"My banquet does not focus just on the organization," he said, reiterating that the main focus is to raise awareness of the situation in Darfur.
Jeter said he hopes to see a large turnout from both the campus and outside communities and added that people can log on to www.savedarfur.com for more information about the genocide.
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