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Serving James Madison University Since 1922
Partly cloudy 73°/ 52° chance of precipitation: 20%
Vol. 88, No. 15 Monday, October 17, 2011
Peace talk
Recent Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee speaks about her role in Liberian liberation By KATIE SENSABAUGH The Breeze
Leymah Gbowee remembers her son asking if he could have a scrap of doughnut and having to tell him she didn’t have any. In fact, they didn’t have food at all. She remembers standing outside in the blazing sun with , other women protesting for peace. She remembers speaking to Charles Taylor, the oppressive warlord in Liberia, forcing him to engage in peace talks to end violence in the country. Now, she’ll be able to remember winning the Nobel Peace Prize for her courageous actions that ended many human rights violations in Liberia.
“If we allow evil, what do we tell our children in the future?” Leymah Gbowee
Nobel Peace Prize winner
Originally from Liberia, Gbowee came to Harrisonburg this weekend to accept a different kind of award from Eastern Mennonite University, where she received her master’s in conflict transformation in . For EMU’s homecoming, Gbowee spoke about her work and received EMU’s Alumnus of the Year award in front of an audience of more than ,. At the ceremony, Gbowee showed the documentary “Pray the Devil Back to Hell,” which features her efforts. The film won a myriad of awards, including the Tribeca Film Festival Best Documentary Feature. Gbowee received the Nobel Peace Prize for her work leading the women’s movement to bring peace to Liberia after years of violence, oppression and starvation in the s and s. Taylor was president of Liberia from to . His regime
raped and killed Liberians across the country. In addition to the violence, the country was short on food and extremely impoverished, thanks to Taylor’s habit of personally gaining money from the country’s natural resources and corporations investing in Liberia. Profits from these actions would normally be put back into the country, but since Taylor was keeping money for himself, Liberians were left with nothing. Taylor was “a man who could be smiling at you one minute, and the next, order to have you killed,” said one Liberian woman in the documentary. Another Liberian woman remembers watching Taylor’s followers murder her husband by slowly slicing his neck to her left and witnessing the rape of her -year-old daughter to her right. “You would go to bed and pray you have something different the next day,” Gbowee said. Because of the uncontrolled violence and oppression in the country, Gbowee decided to do something about it. “If we allow evil, what do we tell our children in the future?” Gbowee said. She started organizing mass movements against the violence by empowering Liberian women to stand up against Taylor. She eventually convinced , women to make a point they weren’t stepping down until there was peace in the country. For the first time in Liberia’s history, Muslim and Christian women came together and worked for peace in the midst of the violence, risking their lives every day. Gbowee also decided to initiated a sex strike. Women refused to have sex with their husbands until the violence stopped. “One way or the other, you have the power as a woman, and that power is deny the man your sex,” a Liberian woman in the documentar y said. see SPEAKER, page A8
from loss to LEADERSHIP
PAUL JONES / THE BREEZE
Teammates say junior Dale Robins-Bailey is known for his sarcastic humor and for playing practical jokes on the team.
Defender Dale Robins-Bailey moves forward after father’s death to motivate teammates on and off the soccer field By CARLEIGH DAVIS The Breeze
Four years ago, Dale Robins-Bailey’s father died of a heart attack while playing soccer with some friends. Moving forward, junior defender Robins-Bailey uses his father’s mentorship to be a leader on the JMU soccer field. His father was part of the reason why he started to play soccer. But Robins-Bailey has remained positive with the help of his family and friends. “I think a lot of it is to do with my family,” Robins-Bailey said. “We have been through hard times, but no one really gets depressed or down. If they do, we have a really close family so everyone helps out.” Not only has Robins-Bailey made a contribution to the team on the field; he’s also changed the team off the field. Head coach Tom Martin and teammate junior forward Paul Wyatt agreed that it’s Robins-Bailey’s personality that stands out the most on the team. “He had … quite personal things that went on,
and the fact that he can have such a bright outlook on life and be a leader and those kinds of things helps,” Wyatt said. “He’s not had it the easiest and still manages to pick people up, and that kind of thing is admirable.” Martin also praised Robins-Bailey’s outlook on life and his personality’s effect on his teammates. “I think his biggest attribute is his personality,” Martin said. “He fits in with everybody. His personality is so genuine and so refreshing. It is for everybody … and I’m real happy for him ’cause he’s really stepped into a role for us.” Robins-Bailey credits his father with inspiring him to continue with soccer. “In the garden, every night, just throwing the ball and kicking it and stuff [with my dad] — that was pretty much my childhood,” Robins-Bailey said. Robins-Bailey said his dad taught him all he knows about soccer. It was his dad who encouraged Robins-Bailey’s move to the U.S. before his death. He knew someone who had traveled there to see ROBINS-BAILEY, page A12
HARTS looking for help Organization seeks $20,000 in the next month to accommodate an increasing number of homeless guests
By AMANDA HERMAN contributing writer
CORY D’ORAZIO / THE BREEZE
COURTESY OF MCT CAMPUS
TOP Recent Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee shared her story with students at Eastern Mennonite University on Friday. She won a Nobel Peace Prize for leading a mass women’s movement to end violence in Liberia. BOTTOM Four young fighters of “Force Fire” militia from Brewerville, Liberia, pose with weapons in 2003. During the 1990s and 2000s, most Liberian fighters began as child soldiers.
10/17 INSIDE
A3
NEWS Why didn’t the chickens cross the road?
No residents have filed to own chickens, despite an ordinance allowing it.
The Harrisonburg and Rockingham Thermal Shelter might have to turn away more than half of its homeless guests if it doesn’t raise at least $, by November. HARTS operates out of Harrisonburg churches as well as Islamic Center , a mosque in Harrisonburg. The churches rotate space for homeless members of the community every week between November and March with the help of volunteers and HARTS staff members. Between November and March , HARTS provided shelter for homeless people, including veterans and six elderly people. Sarah Morton, president of HARTS’ Board of Directors, addressed the need for additional funds to combat overcapacity at the Sept. Harrisonburg City Council meeting. “The community’s need for homeless shelters has almost doubled since the time we were established,” Morton said. Morton said the demand for space had grown since the nationwide recession began because HARTS was the only shelter of its kind in Harrisonburg. HARTS shelters are only able to hold guests and three to five volunteers and staff members. Morton said that on average, they had around homeless
A5
OPINION Interesting analogy
ESPN is justified in removing country star from Monday Night Football.
CAROLINE PRENDERGAST / FILE PHOTO
HARTS volunteers served meals to homeless people at the Catholic Campus Ministry House in February. The organization is accepting donations for the winter season.
applicants per day last winter. Forty homeless guests applied on their busiest day. “We don’t see any reason, particularly given the economy, that it’s going to be any lower this year,” Morton said of the number of applications. Morton said that over the past two years, HARTS worked with the United Way of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County and the local Salvation Army
A7
LIFE Oh, God!
JMU Freethinkers club draws students in for spiritual debates.
to set up emergency overflow shelters, but that option isn’t available this year because they can’t pay for the extra staff. Without these shelters, many of the homeless in the area are forced to take extreme measures. “When you’re freezing, even the jail looks like a better place to be than the see HARTS, page A4
A9
SPORTS Good show
Men’s soccer beat George Mason University - Saturday and has won seven out of its last eight games.