The 10th annual Walk to End Genocide was held on Sunday in the Mid-City area, raising funds for anti-genocide educational and advocacy efforts in the U.S. and to support projects aiding survivors of the conflicts in Sudan and Congo.
The two-mile walk that began at the La Brea Tar Pits was billed by organizers as the nation’s largest anti-genocide rally. Organizers expected more than 3,000 participants.
The walk was organized by Jewish World Watch, an Encino-based group founded in 2004 that has raised millions of dollars in an effort to improve the lives of survivors of genocide and mass atrocities in Congo and Sudan and educate communities across the U.S. to advocate for political change.
“Being so far away, many people choose to ignore (the genocide) and put their blinders on,” Janice Kamenir-Reznik, a co-founder of Jewish World Watch and its president, told CBS2.
“This day is about saying no, there are no blinders.”
The walk is “a recognition that we as Jews know what genocide is about,” Mayor Eric Garcetti told participants before the walk.
Displays commemorating past genocides were set up in the park surrounding the tar pits, along with educational booths about current conflicts where innocents are threatened.
