Genocide Awareness Month is celebrated around the world in April, a month associated with many significant dates related to genocide. These include the Armenian Genocide, the Holocaust, the Cambodian Genocide, and the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

Throughout the month, individuals and organizations join together to commemorate and honor victims and survivors, educate the public about past and contemporary genocides, and advocate for prevention against future mass atrocities.
In recognition of Genocide Awareness Month, John Carroll hosted its sixth Genocide Awareness Vigil in St. Jude Chapel.
Coordinated by Mrs. Louise Geczy, the vigil highlighted the importance of turning memory into action in response to atrocities and remembered those who lost their lives to hate and intolerance.
Social Studies Teacher Darrion Siler said, “I believe that what Mrs. Geczy does is of critical importance in today’s increasingly fragmented world. Programs like the Genocide Vigil shine a light on past and continuing injustice; they also honor the victims by saying their names and sharing their stories. Our collective edification is dependent on knowing what has happened so that we may move forward in solidarity with moral courage, in the hopes to do good, honor human dignity, and pursue justice.”
Junior Zac Dickens, a speaker at the vigil said, “I felt that as a member of the Peer Ministry Leadership Team, I had a duty to the school community to inform them about the genocides that have and are occurring in this world.”
He spoke on the The Pyramid of Hate. This presents a visual image to demonstrate how the seeds of hate, once planted, can quickly grow from biased ideas to hate violence.
Zac said, “It’s important for us to know because these events can be so easily lost to us in today’s world with the wealth of information being thrown at us daily.”
Senior Chloe Connolly said, “It inspired me to watch the vigil, and I got to connect what I learned in Human Rights class to what we prayed over in the service. It was empowering to be in a room of people who have the same values to end genocide as I do.”