Student club is looking for HEROs.

Dr. Ashis Brahma visited Boise States campus earlier this semester to talk about the genocide in Darfur. More than 250 students attended his presentation and as a result a new BSU student club was born. Junior Gabe Murphy started the Human Equality and Rights Organization to educate and encourage others to become active about human rights issues.

“I wanted to start the club for students who were passionate about human rights issues in not only Africa, but Palestine, eastern Europe and China,” Murphy said. “Really there is so much to learn about other countries that we just don’t know about.”

The words refugee and genocide are fairly new and mostly came about in response to the masses of people fleeing Europe after World War II. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees defines a refugee as a person who flees war or other violence in their home country. The word genocide didn’t even exist before 1944; genocide refers to violent crimes committed against groups with the intent to destroy the existence of a specific group. It was after this that the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

“It’s only been this last century that we as Americans have grown accustomed to the word refugee,” Murphy said. “And we shouldn’t. We shouldn’t allow that word to even exist in our vocabulary, and we have grown to except it more and more. With hope, love and understanding we can build that bridge to build better relationships with not only ourselves, but other cultures.”

The club’s first event took place May 6. It showed a documentary, “The Devil Came on Horseback.” The film showed the tragedy-taking place in Darfur through the eyes of an American witness who returned to the U.S. to make his story public and take action to stop it. The film showed the brutal and graphic images that are the reality of Darfur.

The club anticipates another speaking event with Brahma in October, along with poetry and refugees telling their stories. Another event the club would like to see happen is a Camp Darfur refugee simulation come to campus and the long term goal of some day taking a group of students to Africa to implement a student-led curriculum in refugee camps.

HERO is looking for club officers, anyone interested in learning more or joining HERO can contact club president Gabe Murphy at gabemurphy@u.boisestate.edu.

SONIA TREVIZO
News Editor

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