National Canvass Day #3: Dispatch from Texas

Submitted by Ben_drexler_staff on Thu, 12/03/2009 - 5:53pm

Guest post by Laura McCarthy, Carl Wilkens Fellow

Dallas, Texas

On Tuesday, Genocide Intervention Network and STAND launched the National Canvass to Prevent Genocide. Groups from across the country have taken to their campuses, community centers, and places of worship to collect pledges to end genocide from their communities.

This time is particularly special for me, as I learned the same day the Canvass began that I had been appointed to the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Education Commission by the governor of Texas. The Texas Legislature voted unanimously for bill creating the Commission last spring, and Governor Rick Perry signed it into effect this summer. It was formed on the 1st of September, and has been in the process of appointing members.

The Commission will assist elementary, secondary, and university teachers utilize and develop Holocaust and genocide studies in their schools. It will also serve to connect people with resources and other experienced teachers to further educate students. The Commission will also be a resource to Texas communities as well.

Here in Texas, we firmly believe that educating our citizenry about genocide and mass atrocities is one of the greatest ways to create change, and the National Canvass is a prime example of how to do that. At Southern Methodist University, the Amnesty International/STAND chapter collected pledges at their screening of "Blood Diamond," and also collected signatures outside their student center. The University of Texas at Dallas STAND chapter is hosting a canvass event, and the Dallas Holocaust Museum set up a large section on the Genocide Intervention Network and how to be an upstander on the home page of their website.

Stepping into the streets, student centers, and places of worship to raise awareness of genocide and mass atrocities makes all of us not only activists, but educators. Every person we teach is one more person who may join the fight against genocide, so keep educating and getting those signatures.