One of the most vocal of all our hundreds of campus groups is the Students for Justice in Palestine. On Friday of last week, SJP sponsored a benefit for an orphanage in Bethlehem. Some students volunteered their last summer, meeting the children. They decided to help out the orphanage called Save Our Souls with a concert and poetry. The hip-hop artists traveled from Jacksonville, Fla. to help bring awareness to the cause. Often holding rallies, distributing information, this group of 200 or so does not just focus on the Israel and Palestine conflict, but all situations involving oppressed people, according to Nina Shoman, the president of SJP.

“Unity is very important to us,” Shoman stressed.This explains why seven SJP members dedicated a Saturday to volunteering at the huge peace rally in San Francisco.

“We had designated positions for taking donations and security,” Shoman explained. “Our volunteers worked really hard, leaving Sacramento early to start at 9 a.m.”

Along with Sacramento State’s Muslim Student Association, SJP is very well known in the activist world. The Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, or ADC, called upon the young protestors to volunteer because of their good reputation. The group also attended another large rally in San Francisco in April of this year, but apparently it was half the size of Octobers rally. When asked how many people she thought were there, Shoman estimated 80,000 or more. “I was there on April 2nd, and I counted 40,000 then. This rally was held at the same spot, and due to the crowding, and knowing the space, there must have been twice that,” Shoman concluded.

News reports concluded much the same about the recent protest, one of two national events slated for that day. The other was in Washington, D.C., and reports there stated impressive numbers as well.

However, it seems that mainstream media declined to cover them as much as other events. When I returned home from a debate tournament that weekend, I flipped on the major networks looking for some coverage, assuming that such large crowds would attract some attention. I had to go online to Indymedia to get any sort of news coverage. It looked really exciting, with thousands cramming the streets of San Francisco, many waving American flags with a peace symbol where the 50 stars are. Music, costumes and giant puppets made it festive and like a wild parade with one message: Peace in our world.

Shoman has strong opinions about the lack of new coverage. “It’s something that should be reported more often. Unless it’s seen on TV or in the newspaper, people don’t know about it. I saw a few minutes on T.V. with inaccurate information.”

Besides it’s “news-worthiness”, media attention on certain events creates knowledge and awareness. Shoman says, “Media is a form of education.” When we listen and watch and read the news, we are constantly learning things. Who now knows what a Chevy Caprice looks like? How many of us knew where Afghanistan was prior to Sept. 11th?

The lesson here is that we must observe what people are not talking about. Perhaps because there wasn’t violence at the peace rally, networks decided it wouldn’t capture the attention of media-saturated Americans. But the fact of the matter is tens of thousands of people marched to change the world.

Hundreds work tirelessly to create laws and policies that affect all of us. There are acts of miracles everyday that go unreported, making us feel as if the world is crumbling around our shoulders.Don’t be fooled. Search out the full truth of what is happening today.