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University of Florida
The Genocide Awareness Project was on campus at the University of Florida from January 19 to 22, 1999.
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The University of Florida in Gainesville was our first stop on CBR's five-week Florida tour and our display brought a huge and immediate response. Audible gasps could often be heard from students who had trivialized abortion before seeing the pictures. Thursday's move from the Plaza of the Americas to the lawn outside the student union exposed the display to thousands of new students. Many students seek to discredit abortion as genocide by noting that it is not based on race or religion. Cambodian despot Pol Pot, however, in his systematic slaughter of fellow Cambodians killed neither on the basis of race or religion but rather on the basis of education. Since historians universally recognize this as genocide, it becomes clear that the definition of genocide is evolving and is much broader than many people realize.
The addition of our website address to the display site has given countless students the opportunity to find out more about abortion and our organization by logging on. Katrina Jiménez who coordinated our efforts in Gainesville (with stroller in center) came to the display each day with her ten-week old son. His precious presence lent powerful testimony to the fact that personhood should not be based on size or dependency. One exciting aspect of the GAP display is the discussion it prompts across campus. Here, groups of students have began speaking among themselves about the concepts of abortion and genocide. Gregg (in maroon shirt. debates a group of agitated students while a local pro-life physician speaks to a local Planned Parenthood staff member (red beard) who was at our display daily to cast insults. CBR gave interviews with various campus and local radio stations.
Students gaze from a distance as CBR staffer Paul Kulas puts the finishing touches on the second tier of signs. The angry wife of a local Jewish rabbi argued essentially that Martin Luther King was justified in invoking Jewish Holocaust images to protect the rights of black people, but CBR was out of bounds invoking those same images to protect the rights of unborn children. She apparently believes that the First Amendment does not apply to CBR. With the constant addition of new pro-life signs, CBR must expand its exhibit upward to keep the perimeter of the display manageably sized. CBR is reaching more students in a week than the average professor will teach in years.
Several pro-abortion students could be seen wearing large pins which mocked the Christian cross. Such bigotry would never be tolerated against any other religious group. CBR staffer Dina Bresenden (right of center, blue cap) won't overcome twenty years of pro-abortion propaganda in a single week, but here she makes an excellent start. Police crowd-control barricades helped maintain order by keeping some of the angrier students beyond arms length. Most express their point of view with civility, but a few lack self-control. CBR staffer Dina Bresenden (center with hat) who arrived in Florida in time for our last day at UF wasted little time in attracting a crowd. The woman on the right (in shorts) who is on staff with one campus ministry commented that our presence on campus afforded her countless opportunities to share with students about both the horror of abortion and the forgiveness of Jesus Christ.

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CBR condemns all abortion related violence and will not associate with groups or individuals who fail to condemn such violence.
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