Vegas rally brings awareness to Darfur crisis

Justin M. Bowen

Protesters rally in support of ending the Darfur conflict in front of the Foley Federal Building Friday afternoon.

By Mytae Carrasco (contact)

Saturday, March 21, 2009 | 1:50 a.m.

Las Vegas residents rallied in front of the Foley Federal Building in downtown Las Vegas on Friday with hopes of giving the African Darfur crisis more attention.

Corey Dragge, founder of Champion Darfur, organized the small rally after aid was cut off to Darfur refugees, leaving millions without food or drinkable water.

After an arrest warrant was issued for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, he expelled several aid organizations from the Darfur area, leaving many without food or drinkable water.

“I hate bullies. I’m not the kind of person who is going to sit idly by and say ‘OK, you know what, that’s way over there,’ because it could just as easily be right here,” Dragge said.

Dragge said he got involved in bringing attention to the Darfur crisis because of his children and the suffering of children in the Darfur region. He said children are being torn from their families in the region of western Sudan.

“The Janjaweed militia are going in the camps after the military bombs them and they are taking the children and the girls regardless of age,” Dragge said, adding that some of the girls are being sexually assaulted.

Dragge’s wife, Jennifer, and their two daughters also were at the rally as they waved at drivers who honked in support of peace in the troubled region.

“It’s not going to get any better. We all knew it would get worse initially with the warrant out but the fact is they’re running out of time,” Jennifer Dragge said. “The refugees don’t have weeks or months left.”

Organizers said many Americans are uninformed about the situation in Darfur because domestic issues, such as economic concerns, are dominating the headlines.

“We live in bubbles and right now we have a lot of problems. The economy is down, jobs are down -- I just saw today the jobless rate went over 10 percent in Nevada -- so people are really concerned about what is going on here,” Corey Dragge said.

Jenna Fox, a University of Nevada-Reno sophomore who is the west coast regional outreach coordinator for the Genocide Intervention Network, urged those at the rally to “take a stand against genocide right now to act and help our fellow human beings, even if they are in another country.”

Fox’s parents also were at the rally. Her father, Jack Lester, said he learned about the situation in Darfur when Jenna brought it to his attention.

“It’s really just a shame that this has gone on so long and the world doesn’t seem to take an interest in it, and the percentage of rapes, and the killing that has gone on with no intervention from the world community is just really sad,” Lester said.

For more information, visit the Champion Darfur Web site.