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Students show concern about atrocities in Sudan

BY JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER | Newsday Staff Writer

Mercedes Smith of Elmont had something to say. And, like others who sometimes don't agree with coverage in the newspaper, this Newsday reader voiced her complaint in a letter to the editor.

Sitting at her home computer last year, Smith typed out an e-mail that landed in the inbox of Newsday's foreign editor, Roy Gutman. She described her desire to be more informed about the genocide in the Sudan. "I was surprised that I was not able to find this serious topic in your newspaper," she wrote. She questioned whether "you believe that this topic won't sell your papers," or if Newsday editors were simply uninformed about the issue.

The note to Newsday went unanswered for more than a month. But Gutman said he couldn't shake it from his thoughts. Not only was it a curt criticism of Newsday, but it came from a 14-year-old at Floral Park Memorial High School. "If a kid is actually interested in this subject, I really needed to get back to her," Gutman said.

When he eventually wrote back, he explained the difficulty of obtaining visas to send reporters to the highly inaccessible and volatile region. Then, he wrote her again last month, this time saying he was able to send a Newsday reporter and photographer there. "At first I was like, 'Wow, finally!'" Smith said to a recent visitor to her home. She smiled a wide grin, revealing a mouthful of silver braces. "Everyone tells me that I'm really outspoken. When I see something is wrong, I speak out."

Smith, now 15, giggled when she recounted her bold e-mail exchange and said, "Honestly, I don't even remember what I wrote."

A school presentation

In her eighth-grade social studies class last year, a group of seniors gave a presentation about mass killings in Darfur.

According to the Save Darfur Coalition in Washington, D.C., 400,000 people have been killed in Darfur since 2003, when two rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement, attacked military installations. Chaotic ethnic and political strife ensued, including rape, starvation and displacement, spilling into neighboring regions.

"I was shocked at first," Smith said. "The pictures -- a whole bunch of malnourished kids. They were talking about women getting raped." She began reading anything she could find about Africa. She now reads The New York Times daily and subscribes to e-mail alerts on all news items mentioning Sudan.

Dianne Pari, who teaches eighth-grade social studies at Floral Park High, said teaching students about Darfur isn't formally part of the Sewanhaka district's curriculum, but is more of an "awareness campaign."

"We're making a special effort to talk about it," she said.

It started last year, when then-social studies department chairman Marc Isseks suggested teachers introduce the issue as it relates to current events. Isseks is now social studies department chairman at Carey High School in Franklin Square, also part of the Sewanhaka district. He is trying to organize a district-wide walk in June to raise awareness about Darfur. "It won't appear on any exam, but it could be one of the most important things we teach," he said. "We have a genocide going on right now. Why should we wait for it to appear in the history books?"

"What we stress is that it's history in the making," Pari said. "We tell them [the students], 'Your kids are going to ask you about this. You lived through it, and what are you going to say?'"

Students' views on Darfur

On a recent afternoon last month, which happened to be Holocaust Remembrance Day, a group of 10 students at Floral Park High were embroiled in a heated discussion about Darfur. For more than an hour, nonstop conversation flowed, touching on issues ranging from how the situation could impact the climbing price of oil to theories that the executive branch of government is keeping it hushed. "The U.S. government should put out a media campaign, educating the public," said Ed Maxwell, 18, of Bellerose Village.

Michael Soudmand, 16, of Floral Park, pointed out that he's been seeing Sudan mentioned more in recent news articles. "But that's the New York region. But you have regions in the Midwest, they don't know where Africa is," Maxwell countered.

"I think, as a solution, you need to split the country up," offered Matthew King, 18, of Bellerose Terrace.

Akshay Nigam, 14, of Floral Park, was quick to challenge him: "You think that's better than helping?"

"How can you help two groups of people who hate each other?" King responded. "You can give humanitarian aid forever, and that's not going to make these people get along."

Soudmand interjected, "We need to make sure the money is going to the right places."