I'm fairly certain that my story is quite similar to those of a number of students here at Tufts. I am the product of a middle-class family that lives in suburban America. I'm a college student living a comfortable life, working my way toward the comfortable future that my degree from this university will provide me (or so I'm told). I have a penchant for politics but have little awareness about human rights. My lack of familiarity with the topic stems from the fact that my personal rights have never been violated by anyone- especially not by my own government. I foolishly assumed that I had no reason to become personally involved with the cause- but now I know that I have many reasons to be concerned.
I began my work on the Speak Truth To Power lecture vaguely familiar with Kerry Kennedy Cuomo's book of the same name, and even less familiar with the idea of human rights defense. But through an intense period of organization and event-planning, I became more aware of the significance of this book and the necessity of the crusade against human rights violations.
In her April 10th speech to the audience of students and University figures, Kennedy Cuomo described her first hand experience with human rights defense. Beginning with work through Amnesty International, Kennedy Cuomo was a sophomore in college when she discovered the injustices that were being suffered by the people of El Salvador at the hands of US Immigration officials. Kennedy Cuomo opened my eyes to a number of violations that are occurring within our own country. She spoke about the 14 American women she knows who have been raped. Of those 14, only two sought intervention by police. Both of their cases were dismissed without reaching conclusions. While I listened to this unbelievable statistic from her own life experience, I was brimming with anger about the injustice those women have experienced. While I generally associated human rights problems with foreign countries, Kennedy Cuomo's story inspired me to work toward change in my own life here in America. I realize the importance of fighting for honesty and integrity in the American justice system at all levels.
Also speaking at this lecture were three Fletcher students who have been deeply involved in this area. Neamatollah Nojumi, a founding member of the American-based Afghanistan Rescue Effort, spoke about his experience as the child of an Afghani politician. Lisa Karanja is a legal advisor on women's property rights and gender violence for the International Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya. Her commitment to ridding her country of grave practices of injustice is inspiring. Bonny Ling, a member of the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina Sarajevo, spoke of her amazing experience. These three people are more local examples of amazing human rights activists. They have each had experiences that most of us can never imagine. They have molded their anger and frustration into a vehicle through which they can each work toward justice. In each of their speeches, they reiterated a theme that was present in Kennedy Cuomo's statements as well - we can all work for human rights causes; we can all effect world change.
It is our responsibility to become cognizant of the violations that are occurring worldwide, as well as those here in the United States. Preserving another human being's basic rights is simply a matter of respect. We all have the capacity to work for change- we may not be able to move mountains single-handedly, but we can and must work to make the world a better and safer place. Involving oneself in already-established groups working for human rights preservation like Amnesty International is a start. Just because something is not directly affecting oneself, apathy and indifference are not acceptable. As one eloquent participant in the Speak Truth roundtable discussion stated, "We can't wait for someone to be banging on the door for us to open it. We must have it open before they even arrive." We must all learn to speak truth to power.
Christina Zahara is a freshman who has not yet declared a major.
