HAMDEN HIGH HOLDS GENOCIDE SYMPOSIUM
by Ann DeMatteo, New Haven Register, Conn.
New Haven Register (Connecticut)
April 15, 2008 Tuesday
Apr. 15–HAMDEN — Millions of people died in atrocities committed
during the 20th century, according to Hamden High School students who
became immersed in the topic of genocide and presented their findings
at a symposium for other students.
Students were rapt in thought recently when groups of freshmen in
Mark Gabriel’s world history honors class spoke about mass killings
in the Belgian Congo, Cambodia, Rwanda and Darfur in western Sudan.
"Even if we’re talking about the war on terrorism, the conflict in
Iraq, the age of Imperialism or World War II, or the outbreak of
genocide in Armenia at the end of World War I," the issue of human
rights comes up in the study of world history, according to Gabriel.
"Often, we talk about how in history (genocide) is swept under the
rug," he said.
As a result, Gabriel challenged his students to put together a
symposium. Gabriel and Quinnipiac University student teacher Meaghan
Walsh reviewed possible topics with students. Walsh put the students
into groups, balancing teams according to student strengths. Then,
the freshmen spent three weeks researching the topics. They created
posters and hand-outs and developed PowerPoint presentations that
were shown at the symposium.
"They were given a topic and had to explore what happened and
construct a thesis. They formulated opinions and decided how to
present the information to the audience," Gabriel said."I think
they did tremendous. Some upperclassmen were critical of the
presentations. There were some who weren’t prepared enough, and some
who felt they didn’t have enough time and wanted to present more.
They realized they could do more than they ever thought," Gabriel said.
The students who studied the Cambodian genocide from 1975 to 1979 —
Mike Nolan, Patrick Cyr, Lia DeRisi, Mara Lieberman and Colin Doyle —
took some time out during the symposium to talk about what they had
learned. "We were interested in it; it was similar to the Holocaust,"
said Lia. "It’s interesting that it’s lesser known, but it’s one of
the bigger atrocities," Mike said. "It’s pretty shocking because no
one knows about it," said Patrick. Pol Pot was the Communist leader
of the Khmer Rouge, the ruling political party of the time. It’s
estimated that 1.5 million died through executions, starvation and
forced labor of all kinds of people in the Southeast Asian country
on the border of Vietnam, Thailand and Laos.
After people were killed, they were buried in mass graves that were
later known as the killing fields. The graves started to become known
in 1995, the students said.
The genocide in Rwanda in 1994 lasted 100 days and between 800,000
and 1 million people were killed.
"The situation in Rwanda is repeating itself in Darfur. We can come
together and stop genocide and death," said student Noah Chevan.
Deaths ranged from 3 million to 30 million when the Congo Free State
was run by King Leopold from 1885 to 1908.
More than 400,000 have lost their lives in Darfur since 2003, according
to information passed out by the students.
"They’re very passionate about what they studied. This is good stuff,"
Superintendent of Schools Frances M. Rabinowitz was heard saying as
she was leaving the symposium.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
