CORRECTION: Peter Castro was previously misquoted. He said believes there is a popular belief American people are ‘self-interested animals.’

The Trayvon Martin shooting and ‘Kony 2012′ viral video sparked national conversation and inspired a discussion among students and staff at Syracuse University.

The event, ‘Abroad & In Your Backyard: Kony 2012 and Modern Day Lynching,’ took place in Watson Theater on Monday and addressed issues of hate crimes.

Herbert Ruffin, an assistant professor of African-American studies, introduced the idea of modern-day lynching in relation to the Martin shooting.

Ruffin compared the Martin case to that of Emmett Till’s death in 1955. Till, a 14-year-old African-American boy from Chicago, was brutally murdered for reportedly flirting with a white woman.

‘Hate groups are continuing to grow year after year,’ Ruffin said. He urged students to act together and sign petitions to stand up to these types of issues.

Horace Campbell, a professor of African-American studies, related the validity of Kony 2012 to the shooting. The video is a documentary put together by volunteers of Invisible Children to raise awareness about the military violence in Uganda. Most of the basic facts displayed in the video were not true, Campbell said.

‘We need to lift our level of knowledge about the issues that surround us,’ he said.

Along with several Ugandan students, Peter Castro, associate professor of anthropology and co-host of the event, described the Kony 2012 phenomenon that is going viral across the country. Castro called the video ‘humanitarian commercialism’ and said he believes there is a popular belief American people are ‘self-interested animals.’

But the ‘viral’ interest in the Kony video reveals that Americans and others are also compassionate, he said.

Castro offered advice to students about gaining more control on dealing with issues in the United States today.

‘Register to vote and then go vote,’ he said. ‘Don’t stop learning in the classroom. Do your own research and come up with your own conclusions.’

Campbell also said he believes students and citizens in the Syracuse area need to be more aware of what goes on in the community. The Trayvon Martin case has gained national attention, but similar cases have happened in Syracuse and have gone unnoticed by the media.

Ruffin said the violence in the city of Syracuse stems from the lack of people of color in the Syracuse Police Department. Even though the SPD chief of police is black, there is still a high volume of racial violence by police officers throughout the city, he said.

Brandi Williams, a master’s student in the Pan African studies program, said the media does not take part in extensive coverage of world affairs. She said she believes people should not only pay attention to local news, but international news as well.

Said Williams: ‘Students need to do their own research and become informed on their own.’

nrcardon@syr.edu

Published on March 26, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Nick: nrcardon@syr.edu