U.S.College Students Show Support For Victims Of Dafur

The Pilot House was dressed up in red, green, and yellow last Saturday night in honor of "Reggae for Darfur," a benefit concert hosted by the University of Missouri-St. Louis' chapter of Amnesty International.

Students from Alpha Phi Omega, the Catholic Newman Center, and Amnesty International volunteered at the event by selling t-shirts reading "Reggae for Darfur."

They also collected $5 donations for the St. Louis Save Darfur Coalition, and passed out information on the genocide.

All of this was done against the backdrop of the event's two reggae bands/DJs, "Massive Hi Fi" and "Dubtronix."

"Classic reggae so often has a socially consciousness undercurrent, not all of it, but so much of it does," Professor Michael Kuelker, of St. Charles Community College, said. "That's why I chose the DJs and bands here tonight." Kuelker is a co-host of "Positive Vibrations," a reggae radio show on radio station KDHX.

Kuelker approached Rachelle Kuhl and Kris Johnson, the co-presidents of UM-St. Louis' Amnesty International chapter, with the idea to host the "Reggae for Darfur" event.

"It's great because he has so many connections," Kuhl, junior, undeclared, said.

Kuelker also brought Nhial Tutlan, a Sudanese immigrant who is a graduate of St. Louis University, to the event as a speaker to report on Darfur and the whole of Sudan.

"Sadly the situation hasn't really improved since it started five years ago," Tutlan said.

According to a BBC News report distributed at Reggae for Darfur, 250,000 people have already died in the region. An additional two million have fled their homes since 2003. Another handout claims over 400,000 have perished, and 2.5 million have been displaced.

Whatever the figure, in July 2004 the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, and the Bush Administration declared the conflict a genocide.

The country of Sudan has been plagued with civil wars for decades, but the conflict in Darfur began when the Sudanese government-financed militia (known as "Janjaweed") began to destroy the civilian base in Darfur where two rebel movements in the region had developed.

"We don't only have to worry about Darfur," Tutlan said, "but all of Sudan."


The Reggae News Agency

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