Current Campaigns Screening of Black Like Me with Panel Discussion about Racism Today. Mid way through the fall semester of 2004, Berry College was rocked with a series of very racist graffiti and destruction of hundreds of dollars of property. Both black and hispanic students have been targeted. (The semester before, very offensive and threatening graffiti was targeted towards a gay student.) This caused a very strong reaction on campus, with the administration and students condemning the events. News of the racist graffiti and vandalism reached Rome and Atlanta newspapers as well as the Atlanta nightly news. Several student organizations have been looking for a way to do something positive in response to these awful events. Amnesty International, with co-sponsorship from the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Peer Educators will be showing the classic film Black Like Me followed by a panel discussion about racism in America today. Black Like Me is the true story of a respected white man in the South in the 1960s who goes through a treatment to make himself appear black. The movie documents how he was mistreated and disrespected, even though he was the same person just with darker skin. More Books for Mauritania Mauritania is a north west African nation about three times the size of New Mexico. More than 50% of the population lives below the poverty line. The climate is very hot, arid, and harsh. One of our members has a Costa Rican friend named Carlos Quesada living in Mauritania, and he has started a school in the capital city of Nouakchott. So far he has a staff of 12, but the students need books, pencils, and paper. We decided to do what we can to help. For the last four weeks of the Fall semester (starting November 15) we will collect books written in English and Spanish as well as school supplies. Look for our collection boxes in the academic buildings on campus, as well as Krannert, Dana, and Morton-Lemley. Anything you can spare will be greatly appreciated and could make a huge impact in the life of a young person on the other side of the world. We will update you on the results of our collection, as well as any news from the school in Mauritania. This is a letter from Carlos: "My name is Carlos Quesada, Costa Rican single 42. I've been working in the Middle East for over 15 years developing programs among the poorest of the poor. Through many circumstances I came to Mauritania two and a half years ago and instantly I felt in love with the people and the big existing needs among the different ethnic groups. I started a school as a way to teach English and Spanish and in this way to help the people here get better jobs. As part of this process many of the students show great ability as teachers and I decided to start training them to teach Hassaniya and Poular to the foreigners here. In that way they help the foreigners to do a more effective work in the different ONG's here but also provide them with an income for families. Half of the staff is women and needless to say this has really improved their living. I presently have six Arab teachers, three men and three women, and three Poular teachers, a man and two women. My desire eventually will be to train the teachers as well to teach the street kids and some others to teach them to develop a profession. We are searching for a bigger house, but prices here have escalated and make our budgets insignificant to expand our work. As part of the school I also teach Spanish at nights. There is a Mexican woman helping out with the conversation and a Norwegian friend in the secretarial work. The needs and lack of materials is huge as have no computers, books, or better didactic materials for teaching. Carlos Quesada" Letter Writing A large part of what Amnesty does is write letters (or send emails, faxes, and phone calls) to raise awareness about human rights abuses. Some of our letters are sent directly to the group that appears to be responsible for the abuse. Other times, letters are sent to other officials asking them to take action against the abusers. Most of our letter campaings come from our parent organization Amnesty International. They research the events and supply us with an analysis of the situation, a sample letter, and who should be contacted. All of our letters are polite and respectful. By visiting this link, you can see what letter writing campaings Amnesty International is working on now. Does letter writing work? Many of the people we write to are guilty of murder on a massive scale, torture, and systematic rape. So why would they listen to a letter from a college student? Well, they don't listen to one letter. They pay attention to thousands of letters. We are part of a network of literally millions of members all across the globe (more than 1.5 million members in over 150 countries.) Our effectiveness is based on the volume of our response. Human rights abusers know they could get in trouble with their own governments or foreign governments if enough attention is brought to the situation. They thrive in secrecy. So we break that secrecy and make sure they know it; when an abuser receives a few hundred letters a day, it can have an amazing impact. It stops current abuses and prevents more abuse in the future. Letter writing works. Every year, many prisoners of conscience (people imprisoned for their political or religious beliefs) are freed in part because of Amnesty International's letter writing. I personally had the opportunity to meet a woman from South America who was arrested and tortured as a teenager by her government. They pulled out all of her teeth with a pair of pliers. Why? Her husband had been in a trade union. She was freed because of an Amnesty International letter writing campaign. I also met a man from Myanmar (also called Burma) who was held in solitary confinement and tortured for years. His torture was unspeakable; at one point he was emersed up to his chin in human waste for three solid days. His crime? He wanted to start a student union. He is a free man now because of a letter writing campaing by Amnesty International. Although it may seem like a small action, letter writing can be immensely powerful. It saves lives, and it gives hope to the prisoners. I invite you to come write letters with us, or write letters on your own. We'll even pay the postage. Below, you will find some examples of letters we have sent recently. Mao Hengfeng Background: Mao Hengfeng is a woman from China. She violated China's family planning laws by having two children and becoming pregnant with a third. The Chinese government arrested her, confined her to a psychiatric ward against her will, injected her with mystery drugs, and gave her an abortion against her will. Once she was released, she petitioned the government about her mistreatment. In retaliation, she has been arrested, electrocuted, sent to a hard labor camp, and tied and suspended from a ceiling while she has been severely beaten. The government has also detained her two young children. Her current condition is unknown, but Amnesty has called for the immediate and unconditional release of Mao Hengfeng. Berry College Amnesty International has sent letters to Chinese officials concerning this. Read more about Mao Hengfeng. You can use this link to send an automated letter. Download a sample letter about Mao Hengfeng (Word document.) Aster Yohannes Aster Yohannes is from the East African nation of Eritrea. Her husband, Petros Solomon, is the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Eritrea. He was arrested by his government in 2001 for peaceful protests about Eritrea's war with Ethipoia. Aster was studying in the United States until she graduated from the University of Pheonix in Arizona. The Eritrean government invited her back to the country, but when she returned, she was abducted by her own government. We do not know wear she is being held, and Eritrea will not explain her detainment. Representative Jeff Flake (R-AZ) is circulating a letter on behalf of Aster Yohannes, and other representatives are invited to sign. Berry College Amnesty International has sent letters to our representatives asking that they sign this letter. Read more about Aster Yohannes. You can use this link to send an automated letter. Download a sample letter about Aster Yohannes (Word document.) You can visit congress.org to find your representative by zip code. Genocide in Sudan The Darfur region of Sudan is currently experiencing a genocide at the hands of the Janjawid militia, while the Sudanese government ignores the massive abuses. So far, over 1.4 million refugees have fled the country and countless thousands of civilians killed. Berry College Amnesty International has sent letters to the President of Sudan concerning these abuses. Read more about Sudan. You can use this link to send an automated letter. Download a sample letter about Sudan (Word document.) "It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness." This is a student organization webpage. In the spirit of educational growth and communication, Berry College offer webspace to recognized student organizations but does not approve or manage the content of such pages. The content of this page is the sole responsibility of the student organization and does not necessarily represent the opinions of Berry College.