“I had the privilege of studying in Rwanda and had the privilege of studying genocide there,” Gombar said on the steps of Wilson Library. “Getting to study there showed the violence that is at stake.”
She said the recent genocide in Burundi, which neighbors Rwanda, was brushed aside by the world’s most powerful countries. Burundi’s people are often ignored, she said.
“It was a mere two decades ago that embassies scrambled to evacuate the cats and dogs of Westerners from the Rwandan capitol but left their staff there to die,” Gombar said. “Do we want to look the people of Burundi in the eye and tell them that nothing has changed since then?”
Sandy Alkoutami said she spoke as not just a UNC sophomore but as a Syrian.
“I am speaking today as a Syrian, as someone who remembers Syria not as a battleground, a target for air strikes, nor a country defined by turmoil,” Alkoutami said. “I am speaking today as a Syrian but not for Syrians because no stream of thoughts, collection of words, could possibly appease their plight or narrate their struggle. Because their voices, although suppressed, are too powerful, too enduring and too beautiful for me to ever emulate.”
She addressed the audience members who encircled the steps of the library with lit candles in their hands.
“But I am speaking today as a Syrian to remind you, listeners, to refuse the global silencing of Syrian voices, to refuse to disregard the discrimination of Syrians and Syria within the Syrian diaspora,” Alkoutami said.
She said many people overlook the acts of terror committed each day in cities across Syria, while attention is given to places where acts of violence are less frequent.
