With clean water so abundant and easily obtained in Moorhead, it is easy to forget that many people in the world have no access to clean water. Student Government hopes to change that on Nov. 7 with their second annual Day of Reckoning. The program, which this year focuses on getting clean water to African people with HIV/AIDS, is an annual event to raise awareness about a social justice issue through events, speakers, and music.
“In a nutshell, it’s a day to reflect on our world and the injustice in it,” said Student Government Association President Todd Robley.
For the past two years, SGA has hosted the event in conjunction with a band. This year, the band that will be featured is AG Silver. The band was hired in the spring because it partnered with another group called Blood:Water Mission. The organization seeks to provide people in Africa who suffer from or are affected by HIV/AIDS with clean water because the impurities in the water they use exacerbate illnesses.
One way that AG Silver, which will be giving a concert the evening of Nov. 7 as part of their Blood Water for Africa Tour, supports this goal is by selling water bottles for a dollar. The money from the water bottles goes towards building wells in Africa. According to Blood:Water Mission, one dollar is enough to supply a person in Africa with clean water for an entire year. Robley thinks that this small action with a big impact is relevant to the Day of Reckoning, which this year stresses service in the name of social justice.
“Since we’re in a position of privilege, we have the ability to make a difference,” he said.
SGA will be partnering with several other organizations on campus to put on different parts of Day of Reckoning. Campus Service Commission, Campus Ministry Commssion, Campus Entertainment Commission, Cobbers for Pacodes, Intercultural Affairs, and the African Student Union will all be hosting specific events associated with Day of Reckoning. These events will include performances of African drumming and dancing, a community service event, breakout sessions, and selling beaded jewelry to benefit a tribe in Africa.
This year, Day of Reckoning coincides with a number of other events related to social justice, which SGA plans on using to their advantage. In addition to the Day of Reckoning, Project Linus, Hunger and Homelessness Week, and Political Awareness Week will all be taking place throughout the week.
Brita Shoemaker, program and events commissioner for SGA and chair of the Day of Reckoning committee, thinks that the coincidence of so many socially driven events will have a powerful impact.
“It’s really going to be an eye-opening event,” she said.
With so many events happening around the same time, SGA decided to partner Day of Reckoning with Hunger and Homelessness Week this year. As part of this year’s Day of Reckoning, SCS will be hosting a community service project with Great Plains Food Bank, YWCA, and New Sudanese Community Association Moorhead. Shoemaker hopes that all the events associated with the Day of Reckoning will establish Day of Reckoning as one of the biggest social justice events on campus.
“We want to just really build the name of Day of Reckoning to be as big as MLK Day, or, if we’re really ambitious, Symposium,” she said.
Robley also hopes that the event will make students more aware of their world and their responsibilities in it.
“The goal is to get people thinking,” he said. “Even though we’re a small rural college in the middle of Minnesota, we can have a worldwide impact.”
I am a senior English writing major and political science minor at Concordia College, but I originally hail from Fort Collins, Colorado. I have a deep passion for humanitarian aid and the power of the written word. I am currently the Editor-in-Chief of the 2011-2012 Concordian, though on occasion I also write and take pictures.
Dream job: hybrid freelance journalist/human rights lawyer.
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