Shining light on genocide in Sudan

Monday, December 19, 2005
By PRASHANT GOPAL
STAFF WRITER


Ten runners carrying a torch Sunday between Temple Beth Rishon in Wyckoff and Barnert Temple in Franklin Lakes were doing more than heralding the approach of Hanukkah.

The 6-mile torch run had a new purpose this year: to shine light on a genocide in Sudan that has claimed more than 180,000 lives and displaced about 2 million people since 2003.

Organizers said they hope to raise awareness and encourage politicians to get involved.

"During the Holocaust, everybody felt that they didn't want to speak out," said one of the runners, Larry Silverman, a member of Barnert Temple. "We've gone through it and few people spoke up for us, and we're not going to let that happen to anybody else."

The runners - members of both synagogues - left Beth Rishon at about 9:45 a.m., arriving at Barnert Temple a half-hour later. About 100 children - students at Barnert's religious school — greeted the runners with songs, including Peter Yarrow's "Light One Candle." One of the runners used the torch to light the menorah.

Sara Losch, director of education at Barnert, said the event is a display of Jewish unity.

The torch run began about 20 years ago. It originally included a third synagogue in Oakland that has since moved out of the area.

"We need to raise our voices for the people dying in Africa today," Losch said.

The runners returned to Beth Rishon, where they sat down for a lunch of fruit and bagels.

Barkley Calkins, a board member of the Darfur Rehabilitation Project in Newark, spoke about his group's effort to educate and spur the U.S. government to act.

The Arab-dominated Sudanese government is accused of backing a brutal militia in a campaign to stamp out a rebellion. The Arab-tribal militia has reportedly raped and murdered thousands of ethnic Africans during the last few years.

Calkins said the public needs to know that the genocide continues.

"There might be some confusion because the [Bush] administration is not speaking out and the mainstream media is all but silent," he said.

E-mail: gopal@northjersey.com
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