October 19, 2007

Student challenges Father Ryan community to ‘do more’ to end Darfur genocide

Theresa Laurence, Tennessee Register

Motivated to see the film “The Devil Came on Horseback” to earn extra credit for his theology class, Father Ryan High School junior class president Clay Harris came away with a “complete spiritual change,” he said. “I couldn’t get a quarter of the way through the movie without weeping openly,” he said of the documentary about the genocide in Darfur, Sudan. 

He returned to the Belcourt Theater three more times to see the movie, each time bringing more and more Father Ryan students and friends with him. After seeing the movie, “I feel like it’s my responsibility to do as much as possible to help those people,” he said.

This week, he organized a screening of the documentary at the school to further spread the word about the atrocities happening in Darfur, which was attended by a sizeable chunk of the Father Ryan student body.

It has been estimated that up to 400,000 Sudanese have been killed and another three million displaced during the current crisis that has been going on for four years. It began in 2003 when an African rebel group seeking more wealth and autonomy for Darfur mounted an insurgency against the central government. The Arab-dominated government responded by unleashing militias known as the Janjaweed – roughly translated as “devil on horseback” – upon the non-Arab tribes.

While those on both sides of the Darfur conflict are Muslim and black, their tribal affiliations and lifestyles starkly distinguish the two. It is the non-Arabic black Muslim agrarians who are being brutally and systematically attacked by the government-backed militias.

The movie, “The Devil Came on Horseback,” is an intense documentary built around the experience of former Marine Capt. Brian Steidle, who witnessed the Sudanese genocide as a military observer for the African Union. Armed only with his camera, Steidle recorded a number of disturbing images of the murder, torture and destruction happening in Darfur. He now works to bring these horrors to the attention of the international community.

Just as Steidle returned from Sudan with a mission to raise awareness about the genocide, Harris said whoever goes to see the movie “comes out with a sense of responsibility … to figure out how to help instead of just brushing it off.”

“Clay is challenging us to do more, perpetually asking, ‘What else can we do?’” said Tim Forbes, Father Ryan’s dean of campus ministry.

In addition to organizing the screening of the movie at Father Ryan, Harris also approached his theology teachers about switching class discussion on Darfur from the second to first semester. “It’s a credit to the teachers that they were willing to do that, to strike while the iron is hot,” Forbes said.

All Father Ryan juniors take morality and social justice as their theology requirement, and regularly discuss issues like Darfur in class, Forbes said. Many students participate in community service and outreach activities, but it’s not often that they tackle a contemporary social problem with such passion as Harris. “This is really a call for conversion in his life,” Forbes said. And as class president, Harris “has the voice of his peers” to make a difference, he added.

At the movie screening at Father Ryan on Oct. 17, students were asked to pay a $1 admission fee, used to cover the $300 screening fee. All participants were also asked to write a letter to their Congressmen and encourage them to actively engage the United States in the Oct. 27 peace talks in Libya. 

Harris is also working to organize a sizeable Father Ryan student contingent to turn out at the Olympic Dream for Darfur Torch Rally scheduled at Centennial Park for Dec. 2. The event, like others across the country and the world, is designed to call attention to China’s significant investment in Sudan, especially as an importer of Sudanese oil, which bolsters the government-backed genocide. 

This Olympic torch, which began its journey in Chad, just across the border from Darfur, has visited the sites of previous genocides and will end up in Beijing, China, host of the 2008 Summer Olympics, in December.

Harris said he has always been aware of environmental and social issues, but that “nothing has gotten to me and made me focused on one cause” like seeing “The Devil Came on Horseback.”

“It put everything in perspective and helped me realize what’s important – the care of people.”

For more information about Darfur, and what you can do, visit www.savedarfur.org. 

For more information about the movie, visit www.thedevilcameonhorseback.com.

The movie comes out on DVD Oct. 30.

Photo by Theresa Laurence

Clay Harris, president of his junior class at Father Ryan, has organized several events to raise awareness among the students about the genocide in Darfur, Sudan.