President's Peace Commission

Photo montage of people and places in Darfur. (12 minutes)

President Charles L. Cotrell moderates this first session of the Fall 2007 President's Peace Commission entitled "Genocide in Darfur: Responding to Their Cries." President Cotrell introduction Vice President for Mission and Identity Rev. Bernard Lee, S.M., who leads the invocation. President Cotrell then introduction Jason Small, Deputy Director of African Affairs, Sudan Policy Group, United States Department of State. Mr. Small provides an overview of the United States' involvement in Sudan, especially in the Darfur Region. A question and answer session concludes this video. (63 minutes)

Wayne Romo, Director of University Ministry at St. Mary's, serves as the moderator for this session. He begins the session by playing a recorded song and then shares a video from the UNICEF web site, "Child Alert Darfur," that presents pictures of children in Darfur. The guest speaker Papy Mucho is introduced along with his translator Moses. Mr. Mucho is 19 years old and has been in the United States for about 3 months. He is a Tutsi from the Congo and is a Rwandan genocide survivor. Through his translator, he tells his story of his village being attacked, of his getting shot in the hand, and his escape. During the question and answer session Moses shares the story of his sister's murder in Rwanda, but Moses does not consider himself a survivor of genocide. Mr. Romo concludes the session with a prayer for Darfur. (62 minutes)

Floyd Contreras, student member of the President's Peace Commission, serves as the moderator for this session. He introduction Jonathan Gurwitz, a columnist for the San Antonio Express-News, and Victoria Smith, Educational Outreach Coordinator, The Devil Came on Horseback documentary. Mr. Gurwitz provides a brief history of Sudan. Ms. Smith shares pictures and explains what is going on in Darfur "on the ground." She speaks of displaced persons and refugees, humanitarian aid to both Sudan and Chad, destroyed villages, and Chadians who are now also being displaced. She shares how when she interviewed refugees and displaced persons alike and asked, "What do you want?" The answer was invariably, "To go home in peace." A question and answer session concludes this video. (72 minutes)

Rev. Lib McGregor Simmons, Pastor, University Presbyterian Church, serves as the moderator for this panel discussion. She introduces the speakers, Rev. Ann Helmke, Animating Director San Antonio peaceCENTER; Cary Clack, columnist with the San Antonio Express-News and St. Mary's University alum, and Natalie Montelongo, political science student at St. Mary's University. Rev. Helmke speaks first about how humans and animals are similar, but also different. For example, humans kill our own species. Mr. Clack follows with the story of Kitty Genovese, who was stalked, attacked, and killed in New York City over 32 minutes. Of the 38 people who heard (Kitty was screaming for help) or saw the beating, only one called the police and that was after Genovese had been murdered. Mr. Clack agrees with the quote from James Baldwin, that "knowledge brings responsibility." He states that after World War II the mantra became, "Never again," but that genocide and other atrocities still occur. He contends that this has been the case even back to biblical times: Pontius Pilot washed his hands of Jesus knowing what the outcome would be of his inaction; the Good Samaritan did not ask, "What will happen to me if I help this man?" but rather, "What will happen to this man if I do not help?" Ms. Montelongo is taking steps to establish a STAND (Students Taking Action Now: Darfur) chapter on St. Mary's campus. She explains that what is happening in Darfur is like the population of St. Louis dying and the population of the state of Kansas becoming internally displaced. A question and answer session concludes this video. (49 minutes)

Gianantonio "Jonathan" Michelon, professor and administrative assistant in the Political Science Program, serves as the moderator for this session. Mr. Michelon and Rafael Moras, Ph.D., Director, Graduate Engineering Program, team-taught a course during the Fall 2007 semester entitled "High Technology and Society." The students from that class are the speakers in this session. The students provide a historical overview of the conflict in Sudan, water shortages, sewer systems in Darfur, diseases, malnutrition, decreased food rations, Sudan's exports and Sudan's economic conditions. How technology has created some of these problems and how technology can improve situations were both discussed. A question and answer session concludes this video. (47 minutes)

Misha McDonald, student member of the President's Peace Commission, moderates this session which focses on the grassroots efforts to raise awareness and provide assistance to Darfur. St. Mary's Political Science student Charles Parker spoke of how he first became aware of the situation in Darfur over the preceding summer in a class he'd taken. He explained how even though the United Nations had banned weapon exports to Sudan, both China and Russia had continued. He and his classmates created a MySpace account urging the boycott of the 2008 summer Olympics to be held in China, which he refers to as the genocide olympics. Jordan E. Travis is a student at Trinity University and serves as the Director of Social Responsibilities, Volunteer Action Community at Trinity. Ms. Travis spoke about her personal pursuit to establish a STAND (Students Taking Action Now: Darfur) chapter at Trinity University and of raising student awareness on campus. Susan Smylie encourages hope and discusses some of the national-level organizations working to end the crisis and suffering in Darfur, such as Amnesty International, The Save Darfur Coalition, and SudanDivestment.org. A question and answer session concludes this video. (50 minutes)

Vanessa Colón, student member of the President's Peace Commission, serves as the moderator for this session. She introduces the two speakers: Robert L. Summers, Jr., J.D., School of Law, Director, LLM Programs, St. Mary's University; and, Boyka Stefanova, Ph.D., Political Science Department, University of Texas at San Antonio. Prof. Summers described the international law aspects of the crisis in Darfur. He describes the treaties which Sudan has ratified, but has not observed. He also points out that not only has Sudan not observed certain treaties, but that the international community has not been enforcing the treaties within Sudan, which has led to the current crisis in Darfur. Dr. Stefanova spoke about the history of Sudan -- it has been in continual state of civil war since 1956, except for a brief 12-year period. She further discusses how the international community has failed to protect the citizens of Sudan. A question and answer session concludes this video. (46 minutes)

Elijah Akhahenda, Ph.D., English & Communication Studies, St. Mary's University, serves as the moderator for this session. Dr. Akhahenda introduces the speakers for this session: Caesar Ricci, humanitarian medical student, University of Texas Health Science Center-San Antonio; and, Paula Walker, Director, Refugee Resettlement Program, Catholic Charities of San Antonio. Mr. Ricci speaks about what he has witnessed during his two trips to refugee camps in eastern Chad. As a medical student, he is very concerned about the health aspects of the refugee camps. He emphasized that only the very basic medical care was available in the refugee camps and the hospitals in the area are only minimally better equipped. Mr. Ricci shared stories and pictures of children and people he met: a little girl who fell into a cooking fire and was severely burned; a man who had polio and was crippled, but got around the camp by pulling and his legs behind him, which resulted in badly bloodied and bruised legs; a nineteen year old boy who had a cleft plate and cleft palate; and children with club feet. He explains that many of the people he met would have required only a simple medical procedure in a well-stocked medical clinic and with experienced medical professionals in the United States, but in these camps these cases were essentially untreatable due to lack of medical equipment, facilities, and experience. He also explained how the medical inadequacies led to diseases which became much more complicated and further advanced than what U.S. doctors would ever experience in their practice in the United States. He concludes his prepared remarks by sharing a video of children that he took while in eastern Chad. Ms. Walker speaks about Catholic Charities' Resettlement Program, in which refugees from all over the world are sent to San Antonio through the U.S. State Department. San Antonio will receive 400 refugees by the end of December 2007. The refugees must go through medical screenings once they arrive. She reports that San Antonio has an Iranian population of religious minorities which is severely depressed. Another group, referred to as the 1973 Burundians, are refugees from Burma, who have literally grown up in refugee camps. Catholic Charities provides health education, life in the U.S. education, and job preparation instruction for all of their refugees. She urged the audience to imagine coming from a war-torn country, where you lived in a shack, to suddenly arriving in San Antonio never having had running water in the house, never having been to a grocery store, etc. Catholic Charities works to help the refugees adapt to their new living environment. A question and answer session concludes this video. (77 minutes)

Leona Pallansch, Ph.D., Director, Graduate International Relations Program, St. Mary's University, serves as the moderator for this panel discussion of the various cases of genocide. The first speaker is Sally M. Baynton, Ph.D., D.M., Director, Composition Bridge Program, English Department, University of Incarnate Word. Dr. Baynton provides a historical background of the genocide in northern Uganda. She visited the internally displaced camps (IDPs) in Uganda in the summer of 2007 and she describes the conditions she found there, including dysentery and lack of water. The second speaker is Céline A. Jacquemin, Ph.D., Director, Undergraduate International Relations Program, St. Mary's University. Dr. Jacquemin begins by explaining how she came to study genocide. She discusses a variety of refugee movements and how genocide occurs everywhere -- it's not just found in Africa; for example, Yugoslavians in Kosovo, Native Americans, and Tibetans have all been targets of genocide. A question and answer session concludes this video. (63 minutes)