We did it! We spoke directly to the President! (shoutout to CUA STAND whose tweet was the one featured!)
In less than 24 hours, we were featured as the most tweeted topic in DC, #1 on MTV’s twitter tracker, tweeted by Alec Ross (Hillary Clinton’s Senior Advisor for innovation) and Avaaz.org, and mentioned in Tech Crunch…with over 761 tweets and 250 different contributors! Most importantly, we not only reached our ambitious goal; WE SURPASSED IT.
President Obama spoke about various issues that are important to us: jobs, education, bullying, equality. And, when we as students of the anti-genocide coalition asked, "POTUS, can you hear us?" he answered, directly crediting student efforts, and urging us to continue to "put pressure on your elected representatives to get involved." This is monumental. In 2008, we made Darfur a campaign issue; and today, on national television, we put Sudan and genocide prevention on the map again–not only for President Obama, but for all of TV-watching America. We’ve made clear that preventing and acting against genocide and mass atrocities is an issue that’s important to us and drives us to action. We’ve come a long way, built organizations and chapters out of a common belief that no one should be killed, raped, abandoned, displaced–that the international community should recognize its responsibility to protect.We are continuing to build upon the first permanent anti-genocide constituency. And we’re here to stay. The President answered our call. Now we have a choice–will we answer his? In the coming weeks, let’s continue to use our voices and the skills we’ve acquired. Let’s continue to ask our elected representatives to speak out against genocide by supporting S. Con. Resolution 71. What we pulled off in less than 24 hours was incredible! Now, we have 90 days until the January referendum in Sudan. We’ve come a long way. Let’s keep building. P.S. P.P.S.
And, for any twitter skeptics left, hope you guys are creating your accounts now… ;]
WAY. TO. KICK. ASS. Make sure to share this win and link with your chapters!
Andrea Hong
STAND: The Student-led Division of Genocide Intervention Network
National Student Director
Smith College ’11
director@standnow.org