A Day for Darfur in Brooklyn’
PROSPECT PARK — As budding trees and cherry blossoms filled the air on Sunday afternoon, Brooklyn Parents for Peace presented a program to increase awareness of the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, and to raise support for its local refugees.
Organizers said hundreds of people gathered and rallied in Prospect Park for the program “Drumming for Darfur.” It was one of 150 events planned nationwide from April 23 to 30 as part of the third “Global Days for Darfur,” according to the Brooklyn group.
The president of the Newark-based Darfur Rehabilitation Project, Abdelbagy Abushanab, reportedly advocated for Darfurians to unite to solve this crisis. Motasim Adam, president of the Darfur People’s Association of NY, described harsh realities for genocide victims.
State Assemblyman Jim Brennan, D-Brooklyn, spoke about pending state legislation that would authorize the state comptroller to refrain from investing public pension funds in companies doing business in Sudan and to divest from companies that are doing business in Sudan. The bill, A07814, is co-sponsored by Assemblyman Darryl Towns, D-Brooklyn, and is identical to Senate bill S 5287, sponsored by Senator Joseph Robach, D-Monroe County.
“Ongoing violence and lawlessness in Darfur region has resulted in estimated civilian deaths ranging from 50,000 to 200,000,” the bill states. “Hundreds of thousands of people have been injured or maimed, nearly 1.5 million people are displaced, and the population is afflicted with famine and malnutrition … the Sudanese government arms and collaborates with violent militia groups known as the Janjaweed for the purpose of conducting attacks against civilians.
“In July of 2004, both chambers of the United States Congress unanimously adopted a joint resolution condemning the continuing atrocities in the Darfur region of western Sudan as ‘genocide’ and called upon the international community to work to end what it termed as a humanitarian catastrophe. This legislation would be a major step in helping to end this terrible situation in the Darfur region,” the bill states.
Other speakers at Sunday’s rally included Reverend Podres Spencer of the Concord Baptist Church of Christ and Ciatta Z. Baysah, Esq., an attorney with Wanda M. Akin & Associates.
The event closed with a drumming performance by two middle school students, Stephan Litzsey and Quaran Jones, from Junior High School 258.
A committee from Brooklyn Parents for Peace has been working with Darfur People’s Association of New York, a group of refugees who fled genocide in Darfur, to collect clothing and school supplies and raise funds for refugee camps in Chad. They collected bags full of clothing and school supplies on Sunday.
Since early 2003, genocide has been raging in Darfur, where Sudanese government forces bomb villages and arm militias who carry out a campaign of rape, arson and murder throughout the region. To date, more than 400,000 people have been killed, and two million have fled their homes, including the 200,000 currently living in refugee camps in Chad.
PROSPECT PARK — As budding trees and cherry blossoms filled the air on Sunday afternoon, Brooklyn Parents for Peace presented a program to increase awareness of the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, and to raise support for its local refugees.
Organizers said hundreds of people gathered and rallied in Prospect Park for the program “Drumming for Darfur.” It was one of 150 events planned nationwide from April 23 to 30 as part of the third “Global Days for Darfur,” according to the Brooklyn group.
The president of the Newark-based Darfur Rehabilitation Project, Abdelbagy Abushanab, reportedly advocated for Darfurians to unite to solve this crisis. Motasim Adam, president of the Darfur People’s Association of NY, described harsh realities for genocide victims.
State Assemblyman Jim Brennan, D-Brooklyn, spoke about pending state legislation that would authorize the state comptroller to refrain from investing public pension funds in companies doing business in Sudan and to divest from companies that are doing business in Sudan. The bill, A07814, is co-sponsored by Assemblyman Darryl Towns, D-Brooklyn, and is identical to Senate bill S 5287, sponsored by Senator Joseph Robach, D-Monroe County.
“Ongoing violence and lawlessness in Darfur region has resulted in estimated civilian deaths ranging from 50,000 to 200,000,” the bill states. “Hundreds of thousands of people have been injured or maimed, nearly 1.5 million people are displaced, and the population is afflicted with famine and malnutrition … the Sudanese government arms and collaborates with violent militia groups known as the Janjaweed for the purpose of conducting attacks against civilians.
“In July of 2004, both chambers of the United States Congress unanimously adopted a joint resolution condemning the continuing atrocities in the Darfur region of western Sudan as ‘genocide’ and called upon the international community to work to end what it termed as a humanitarian catastrophe. This legislation would be a major step in helping to end this terrible situation in the Darfur region,” the bill states.
Other speakers at Sunday’s rally included Reverend Podres Spencer of the Concord Baptist Church of Christ and Ciatta Z. Baysah, Esq., an attorney with Wanda M. Akin & Associates.
The event closed with a drumming performance by two middle school students, Stephan Litzsey and Quaran Jones, from Junior High School 258.
A committee from Brooklyn Parents for Peace has been working with Darfur People’s Association of New York, a group of refugees who fled genocide in Darfur, to collect clothing and school supplies and raise funds for refugee camps in Chad. They collected bags full of clothing and school supplies on Sunday.
Since early 2003, genocide has been raging in Darfur, where Sudanese government forces bomb villages and arm militias who carry out a campaign of rape, arson and murder throughout the region. To date, more than 400,000 people have been killed, and two million have fled their homes, including the 200,000 currently living in refugee camps in Chad.
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