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CORONA STUDENTS SET UP MEMORIAL FOR GENOCIDE VICTIMS
By Shirin Parsavand
Press-Enterprise , CA
April 19 2007
Video: Corona-Norco high school students plant small flags in
rememberence of the Holocaust
CORONA - Antonio Williams had heard only a little about the Rwandan
genocide before last month, when he started learning about it at Norco
High School. Now, he struggles with the idea that brutal violence
could kill so many so quickly -- 800,000 in just 100 days in 1994.
"It was at least a thousand dying a day ... it was just thousands,
thousands dying," Antonio, 16, said Wednesday. "It's just women,
men, children, infants being slaughtered. It's a horrible thing to
think about."
Yet rather than turn away, Antonio and about 50 other high school
students worked Wednesday to help themselves and the community
understand the toll hatred can exact.
Sebastian Hernandez, a teacher at Norco High School, and his daughter
Jane Hernandez, 3 ½ , attend a program about victims of genocide and
the Holocaust at Santana Regional Park in Corona.
The students, from six schools, met at Santana Regional Park to plant
more than 3,000 small flags. Each represents 5,000 people who lost
their lives in a mass killing that resulted from ethnic, national,
political or religious divisions.
The project was based on one Centennial High School did last year to
mark Yom HaShoah, the Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Just as they did last year, Centennial students on Wednesday planted
more than 2,000 flags of various colors to represent the 11 million
killed in the Holocaust.
This year, students from Buena Vista, Corona, Norco, Orange Grove
and Santiago high schools joined them.
The students put together a timeline of tragedy along Ontario Avenue.
It starts with 300 orange flags that mark the deaths of up to 1.5
million Armenians around 1915. It ends with 45 red flags to represent
the more than 200,000 people from the Darfur region of Sudan killed
during the past four years.
In between are flags representing those who died in Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Cambodia and Rwanda, as well as in the Holocaust.
At the end of the display, affixed to the fence, is a sign that reads:
"Who's next?"
Several students said Wednesday they were stunned when they began the
research that led to the flag project. They thought genocide ended
with the Holocaust.
"It breaks my heart, knowing that people in these kinds of numbers
died in such a short period of time," said Nick Craig, 17, a junior
at Norco High School.
Most of the students take part in Unity Forum, an elective class for
students who lead activities to help fellow students overcome bias.
Christina Romero, the Unity Forum teacher at Buena Vista, said the
flag project made her students more aware of world events and sensitive
to others' suffering.
The students learned about the criteria for genocide under
international law, and they decided the tragedy that befell the
Armenians met the definition, Romero said. Many historians use the
term Armenian genocide, but Turkey maintains the deaths of Armenians
were the result of civil strife that also killed Turks.
Romero used a children's book to personalize the tragedy of the
Armenians for her students. Buena Vista senior Bianca Huerta said
she could relate to what happened nearly a century ago.
"You realize that could have been your actual blood," said Bianca, 17.
The flags will remain on display until Sunday.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/storie s/PE_News_Local_D_holocaust19.3d663f4.html
--Boun dary_(ID_anrOgrjEMHlePscI5gcpRg)--
By Shirin Parsavand
Press-Enterprise , CA
April 19 2007
Video: Corona-Norco high school students plant small flags in
rememberence of the Holocaust
CORONA - Antonio Williams had heard only a little about the Rwandan
genocide before last month, when he started learning about it at Norco
High School. Now, he struggles with the idea that brutal violence
could kill so many so quickly -- 800,000 in just 100 days in 1994.
"It was at least a thousand dying a day ... it was just thousands,
thousands dying," Antonio, 16, said Wednesday. "It's just women,
men, children, infants being slaughtered. It's a horrible thing to
think about."
Yet rather than turn away, Antonio and about 50 other high school
students worked Wednesday to help themselves and the community
understand the toll hatred can exact.
Sebastian Hernandez, a teacher at Norco High School, and his daughter
Jane Hernandez, 3 ½ , attend a program about victims of genocide and
the Holocaust at Santana Regional Park in Corona.
The students, from six schools, met at Santana Regional Park to plant
more than 3,000 small flags. Each represents 5,000 people who lost
their lives in a mass killing that resulted from ethnic, national,
political or religious divisions.
The project was based on one Centennial High School did last year to
mark Yom HaShoah, the Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Just as they did last year, Centennial students on Wednesday planted
more than 2,000 flags of various colors to represent the 11 million
killed in the Holocaust.
This year, students from Buena Vista, Corona, Norco, Orange Grove
and Santiago high schools joined them.
The students put together a timeline of tragedy along Ontario Avenue.
It starts with 300 orange flags that mark the deaths of up to 1.5
million Armenians around 1915. It ends with 45 red flags to represent
the more than 200,000 people from the Darfur region of Sudan killed
during the past four years.
In between are flags representing those who died in Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Cambodia and Rwanda, as well as in the Holocaust.
At the end of the display, affixed to the fence, is a sign that reads:
"Who's next?"
Several students said Wednesday they were stunned when they began the
research that led to the flag project. They thought genocide ended
with the Holocaust.
"It breaks my heart, knowing that people in these kinds of numbers
died in such a short period of time," said Nick Craig, 17, a junior
at Norco High School.
Most of the students take part in Unity Forum, an elective class for
students who lead activities to help fellow students overcome bias.
Christina Romero, the Unity Forum teacher at Buena Vista, said the
flag project made her students more aware of world events and sensitive
to others' suffering.
The students learned about the criteria for genocide under
international law, and they decided the tragedy that befell the
Armenians met the definition, Romero said. Many historians use the
term Armenian genocide, but Turkey maintains the deaths of Armenians
were the result of civil strife that also killed Turks.
Romero used a children's book to personalize the tragedy of the
Armenians for her students. Buena Vista senior Bianca Huerta said
she could relate to what happened nearly a century ago.
"You realize that could have been your actual blood," said Bianca, 17.
The flags will remain on display until Sunday.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/storie s/PE_News_Local_D_holocaust19.3d663f4.html
--Boun dary_(ID_anrOgrjEMHlePscI5gcpRg)--