Pre-med major Bernice Flores wants to make an impact against genocide.
“I guess people, when they think of genocide, think of what’s barely happening from Darfur.
“But just to see how much has already occurred, and that we’re still not learning how to stop it or how to do something about it, it makes me feel kind of sad that people would actually do this to someone else, that humanity can let this happen,” Flores said.
The Amnesty International Club hosted an exhibit on genocide at the Student Center on Nov. 30 from noon to 3 p.m.
Joseph Morgan, sociology major and member of the Amnesty International Club, said the club wanted to focus on the current genocide in Darfur.
“With that going on right now, it was something that we were trying to promote awareness of; we decided to do a whole exhibit from all the genocides that have happened pretty much throughout recorded time,” Morgan said.
The exhibit included a graphic timeline of genocide, starting from the fifth century BCE to present time, with a multimedia aid in the form of a video about the holocaust.
Joshua Gagnier, who plans to major in both biology and medicine, was a representative of the Amnesty International Club, saying the holocaust video helped to emphasize the survivors’ expressions as well as demonstrate a part of the timeline.
The “Hall of Hate” also had stand alone posters that explained how genocide is affected by fields of study students at Cerritos major in, such as political science, sociology, philosophy and economics.
Flores said that she attended the event to learn more about joining the Cerritos College Amnesty International Club, which is a student group branch of the organization it derives its name from.
Shayan Golshan, biology major, said “I am very deeply saddened by what I see here, and what I read here.
“[The exhibit] was very well put together, very educational. Very saddening, and I think we should do something to help stop it.”
Damon Springer, culinary arts major, was one of the few students to walk through the exhibit.
Springer said he was shocked by the heart of the people who carried out the genocides.
“It’s ridiculous how much evil that someone can have.
“But it’s amazing to see who’d have the heart to go and talk about this. Because I know I wouldn’t want to talk about this, I would want to cry.”
