Genocide is not a rock band

By: Brigid Brett - For the North County Times | Thursday, March 8, 2007 9:39 PM PST ∞

When Tahiya Sultan starts worrying about whether it really is possible for an American teenager to do anything about a genocide a continent away, she immediately thinks about the words of anthropologist Margaret Mead: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can charge the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

While adults across the globe continue to debate whether the murder, rape, torture and starvation that has killed 400,000 and displaced 2.5 million innocent civilians in Sudan since 2003 should or should not be termed a genocide, Tahiya has sold T-shirts on her school campus, become the president of STAND, an anti-genocide student-led coalition, and organized a benefit to raise awareness about the crisis.

Tahiya is a junior at Westview High in Rancho Penasquitos, a 17-year-old who listens to John Mayer and Coldplay, speaks Bengali at home and attends Mosque regularly. Shortly before her junior year she learned about Darfur from a documentary on TV. "When I saw how much these people were suffering, how many thousands of people were being killed, I knew I couldn't stand by and do nothing," she says. "But when I told other people about it, some of them asked me what 'genocide' was and one person asked me if 'genocide' was the name of a rock band. ... .It hurt me inside. It makes me so sad to think that while so many thousands of people are dying in Darfur, there are so many people here who know nothing about it."

Determined to change that, Tahiya has spent the last few months contacting individuals and organizations that could help her realize her vision of a benefit for Darfur, where "people could come together to learn more about the genocide and do something constructive about it."

When Jennifer Anshin, organizer of Amnesty International at UC San Diego, got Tahiya's e-mail last November, she didn't think it would lead to her co-sponsoring the event. "I get so many e-mails and phone calls from people who start out passionate about a cause, and then don't follow through. I've met few people who have the drive, the determination and the focus that Tahiya has," she says. "I often have to remind myself that this extraordinary person is a junior in high school."

Listening to her I can't help wondering how many extraordinary young people it will take to clean up the messes ---- both locally and globally -- that my generation and past generations have made. And why, instead of investing all our time, money and energy into giving these young people the resources to cope with our toxic legacy, we continue to wage wars, destroy the environment and feed our insatiable hunger for materialism. I've never met Tahiya's parents, but I'm deeply grateful to them for raising a daughter with such compassion for those who suffer in another part of the world. Imagine what could be accomplished if each parent started discussing world events with their children, listening to their fears and supporting them in becoming pro-active.

The benefit for Darfur victims, co-sponsored by Tahiya Sultan and Amnesty International at UCSD, will take place at 6 p.m. Saturday at UCSD's International Great Hall. For more information, contact Tahiya at (858) 733-1413 or e-mail westview.stand@gmail.com; contact Jennifer Shin at Amnesty International at UCSD (408) 891-1845 or e-mail amnestyucsd@gmail.com.

-- Valley Center resident Brigid Brett is a freelance columnist for the North County Times.

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