Our latest press release about an educational event on Darfur slated for Sunday, April 16th:

Community-wide Educational Event on Genocide in Darfur, Sudan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 29, 2006

BLOOMFIELD HILLS – The JN will be co-hosting a community-wide educational event with the Detroit 2 Darfur Coalition on Sunday, April 16th, at the Jewish Community Center in Oak Park, at 1:00 pm. The Detroit 2 Darfur Coalition was formed by Jewish leaders as a coordinated response to the genocide in Darfur, Sudan.

The event will feature Matthew Emry, the Senior Program Officer for Emergencies and Disasters at the American Jewish World Service in New York. Mr. Emry traveled throughout Africa in March and will brief the community on the crisis in Darfur. Event organizers plan to include Sudanese ex-patriots, brief comments by local response organizers and a screening of a video clip about the situation.

“There’s no coincidence that this event will fall on the intermediate days of Passover. It’s especially fitting at this time of the year that we mobilize our community to take action against the genocide in Darfur,” said Robert Cohen, Executive Director of the Jewish Community Council.

“This event will explain why action needs to be taken and what action needs to be taken. It will be an opportunity for parents from every segment of our community to educate their children about doing the right thing in the face of evil,” said Cohen. Since its forming in mid-March, numerous organizations have joined the Detroit 2 Darfur Coalition, including the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit and the Holocaust Memorial Center.

The Coalition has also begun to make arrangements for Detroiters to join the Rally to Stop Genocide, which will take place at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on April 30. Organizers of the Save Darfur Coalition are projecting that thousands of Jews from across the country will participate in the national rally.

An informational blog on Detroit to Darfur may be found at: http://detroit2darfur.blogspot.com. The Jewish Community Council may be reached at (248) 642-5393.