Author: Richie DeMaria
There were the usual images of devastation: a woman digging for water in a pit of mud; a mother whose children were burned alive in her arms.
Alongside these were also images of hope: a group of grinning children playing a game of Tug Of Peace; a woman who walked from northern Sudan to southern Sudan and made it out alive; a one-legged child, on crutches with his thumb straight up.
It was these images of dignity in the face of disaster that photographer and author of Silent Images David Johnson focused on during his Monday, April 28 presentation: “A Genocide That Cannot Kill Hope.”
“There is hope because of the people. That’s why I do what I do,” he said. “The images of skulls and bodies-that is real. The flip side is that this is going on simultaneously.”
These images, he said, are noticeably absent in the American media’s scant reporting of the religious and ethnic conflict.
“My personal thought is that positive images inspire action, ” he said. “When we see a picture of a dead body we think, ‘It’s too late; they’re dead.’ People don’t show [images like these] as much because they’re not shocking.”
His role as a photographer, he said, was to give voice to the thousands of voiceless victims in the face of inadequate media representation.
“Somebody has got to frame this story and stick it in your face, because the media’s not doing a good job,” he said.With his book, Voices of Sudan, he hopes to raise profits to use towards aiding the victims of the genocide.
“I use the book sales in order to raise more money for wells. I could care less if people know who I am,” he said.
He was inspired to photograph the genocide while visiting the Killing Fields in Cambodia in 2004.
“I was walking through with tears in my eyes,” he said. “I decided that if a genocide ever happens on my watch, I am not going to sit and not do anything about it.”
Future generations will hold our generation accountable for America’s reaction to the Sudanese genocide, he said.
“The US government declared genocide while it was going on-that makes you responsible,” he said. He believes that because the government publicly acknowledged the atrocity while it is still going on, as opposed to after the fact, it would be irresponsible for citizens to not do something about it. He largely blamed the media’s lack of coverage for America’s apathy towards the genocide. To illustrate this point, he presented pictures of American celebrities such as Britney Spears and Brad Pitt alongside pictures of international political figures such as Robert Mugabe and Aung San Suu Kyi to see whom the students could most easily identify. The majority of students knew the celebrities and could state a fact about them, but few could identify the political figures.
He likened America’s mediocracy to Alduous Huxley’s novel Brave New World.
“Huxley warned of having so many distractions that we don’t really choose to find the truth. We live in a culture where there are more options and less action,” he said. “Los Angeles, or Hollywood, is the flagship city of the 21st century. The danger is out of all these stories, all these faces, quietly creeping along is a genocide.”
He concluded by encouraging students to take action and to educate their peers, but cautioned them from taking on an elitist western attitude. He pointed to the slogan of the non-profit group Save Darfur as an example.
“Save Darfur-I hate the name,” he said. “‘Save Darfur?’ Like the West is going to save the meek and weak Darfur? We need to be careful with our slogans.”
For Johnson, the answer lies in education. “Education is key,” he said.
To learn more or purchase his book, Voices of Sudan, visit silentimages.org. All proceeds go towards funding water, food and medicine for the Sudanese.
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