In response to “mtvU gives Africans a voice – against their will” by Melissa Graboyes from March 13, 2006.

Andrew Karlsruher COM ’08 Narrator/second camera/field producer of Translating Genocide: Journey to Sudan [email protected]

Would you ask a grown woman, a complete stranger, if she had ever been raped? No, unless you are a police officer, a crisis counselor, a close friend or a documentarian invited into the woman’s home for the sole purpose of discussing her past hardships on camera. While I respect Melissa Graboyes’ opinion of Translating Genocide: Journey to Sudan, the accusations she makes are based on partial and incorrectly inferred information. I will take this opportunity to fill her in: The segment included in the documentary that aired on MTV portrays only a fraction of a long conversation that took place between the female refugee, Nate, Stephanie and I. Her testimony was in no way “forced” or “coerced” as yesterday’s op-ed irresponsibly states, but in fact came about at the young woman’s request. Any attempts she made to divert questions about rape were directed to her cousin, in Arabic, and therefore were not even realized until weeks later when we flew to New York for editing. As painful as it must have been, she was adamant about sharing her story with us so that we could expose it at home and inspire college students such as you to help. Material was censored out of respect for the woman and her family, but to neglect her story entirely would have been an abandonment of our mission to raise awareness of the genocide in Sudan and a betrayal of someone who was brave enough to revisit her suffering with us. Working amid dying infants, mutilated teens, raped women, militia men wielding assault rifles and a new friend begging me to save his life, I can assure you that the “humanity of my subjects” was far from forgotten. However, I am the first to admit that grief was caused in the process. Speaking openly of horrors like mass murder and rape is obviously traumatizing for any victim, but I am a firm believer that the hard thing to do and the right thing to do are usually the same. The “someone” who decided to include the segment you find so appalling was me and I stand proudly behind that decision. Africans, like all people, have a voice, but I find no harm in helping to turn up the volume.