Panel discussion raises awareness of genocide on campus

By Karina Hartley
Staff Reporter

For people living in the United States, it is all too easy to think of genocide as a far-removed atrocity, something from an archaic past or a distant land. At LCC, the Anthropology and Sociology Club wanted to challenge that narrative by expanding conversations and awareness of genocide on campus. The club invited individuals who have direct experience with genocide to share their voices and stories with LCC.

When the Anthropology and Sociology Club, advised by Anthropology professor Aliza Robinson, met in the fall of 2025, members felt strongly about taking on a project to raise the college and community’s awareness of the reality of genocide around the globe. At the 2025 fall StarScapes, club students hosted a gallery walk with an eclectic collection of art curated by students that featured paintings, drawings and photography from various places around the world that had been impacted by genocide. Robinson commented on how this idea snowballed: “We had a lot of positive feedback from the exhibit. It seemed that the LCC community wanted to learn more about genocide. Right after the new year, we began planning for the panel discussion in April.”

This discussion featured three panelists who had been closely affected by genocide in different parts of the world sharing their stories with students in the Office of Empowerment. The event took place in the afternoon of Wednesday, April 22.

The panel discussion was raw and emotional. Over 50 attendees, including students, staff and faculty, filled the room to listen and engage. Melly Kellogg, LCC student and president of the Anthropology and Sociology Club, was the moderator of the event and discussed why the club felt moved to pull together an event like this. “Our drive comes from the stories we uncovered during our previous art exhibition on genocide. Knowing how things were impacting different cultures, it was our goal to connect and inspire the community to take action,” Kellogg said.

Meet the Panelists

Helen Knar Arakelian Cirrito is the grandchild of Armenian genocide survivors. Born and raised in Detroit, Cirrito has worked for over three decades as a refugee advocate for the Armenian community in Michigan. The Armenian Genocide took place in 1915. This instance of the mass killing and displacement of Armenian people in the Ottoman Empire resulted in the estimated deaths of 1.2 million Armenians and sparked the its codification of genocide into international law.

Chelsea Vann spoke on the panel as a survivor of genocide in Cambodia. Vann came to the United States in 1997 and began her college journey at LCC, eventually transferring and getting her bachelor’s degree in international relations from Michigan State University. In 2014, she returned to LCC where she works today as an academic success coach. From 1975-1979, dictator Pol Pot led Cambodians into genocide under rule known as the Khmer Rouge. Cambodians were killed and stripped of their cultural identities as they were forced to pledge their loyalty to the brutal regime.

Siham Hassan is a survivor of the ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing of Darfuri people in Sudan. Along with her mother, who helped her family flee Sudan, Hassan arrived in the United States as a child. Hassan went on to get her bachelor’s degree from Michigan State in political theory and constitutional democracy. Since 2017, Hassan and her mother have been co-founders of the Najwa Foundation, a Lansing-based organization that offers resources for Sudanese refugees and survivors. The foundation connects with survivors that are in the very same refugee camps in Chad that Hassan had once lived. In the northwest part of Sudan, in a region known as Darfur, ethnic Darfuri people, who are considered “non-Arabs,” have been targeted and slaughtered by militant forces in Sudan since 2003.

Scale of Destruction

The panel opened with these individuals sharing deeply personal experiences of what life is like before, during and after genocide. Through multiple generations of genocide survivors and descendants on the panel, they highlighted how monumental the scale of destruction is. The panelists were able to bring that understanding home through stories.

Vann offered an emotional perspective as she shared, through tears, memories of her childhood under the Khmer Rouge regime. She recalled experiencing the deaths of her father and brother, and the pain of not being able to recover their bodies. Vann also discussed how the casualties of genocide go beyond the death toll, as the regime sought to erase culture as well. “They abolish everything. There’s no such thing as belonging,” she said. “When a genocide happens, it’s not just killing—their way of life, their culture is upturned.” Vann recalled how the Khmer Rouge regime’s propaganda infiltrated even the weddings of civilians: “They would make you pledge to make the regime prosperous and glorious.”

Hassan discussed how jarring it was for her and her family to go from fleeing genocide to trying to establish roots in Michigan. Hassan talked about her upbringing and how it contrasts with the lifestyle she has seen many Americans experience, which allows them to take on each day dreaming of what could be. She discussed how such a perspective fundamentally cannot exist for people experiencing war and genocide, that tunnel vision becomes necessary for survival and the only thing they can focus on day to day is staying alive. Hassan shared that the search for safety and belonging does not end once you flee persecution. “You don’t want to stand out. There is a sense of shame in being a refugee, in being a survivor,” she added.

Cirrito discussed the long-lasting impacts of genocide. Her work with genocide survivors and refugees, as well as being a descendant of genocide survivors herself, allowed her to elaborate on how deep and devastating the consequences are. When she is working with survivors and descendants of survivors, they often report they feel a part of them is missing—that their culture, history and what could have been has been erased. “There’s nothing to go home to,” said Cirrito.

To add to this perspective, Cirrito shared that “if there was no genocide in 1915, there would be roughly 10-20 million Armenians alive today.” Hassan took this a step further and emphasized that, when statistics are reported, those numbers are not just numbers and not just death tolls. She highlighted that “every number is somebody’s story that was cut short,” and that through engaging with the stories inside of those statistics, we can better understand and empathize with victims, survivors and families.

Going forward

Following a question-and-answer segment, the panel looked ahead to what the responsibilities of the younger generations are and why it is important to continue these kinds of discussions and take action. The panelists also highlighted what the role of the individual can look like in genocide prevention. Panelists discussed the power of boycotts, continuing to show up when you feel powerless, and leaning heavily into community, because none of it can be done alone.

Hassan touched on the eagerness of the youth. “A lot of my generation in their mid-twenties feel a lot of responsibility to bring about change in Sudan,” she said. Hassan offered an optimistic outlook to the group, and highlighted the power and responsibility that falls in the hands of this generation. “If we don’t speak up and advocate for ourselves, who will?” said Hassan.

After the panel discussion, Vann discussed the impact that events like this one can have in the community. She weighed in not just as a survivor, but as an LCC success coach and community member. Vann said that although it is not easy to share her story, she recognizes the domino effect that being vulnerable and willing to educate about genocide can have. “You never know how much it touches a certain student that they're really interested, and it sowed a seed for them to go on and look deeper.”

Vann most appreciated having other people by her side on the panel, and being a part of a group sharing their experiences from different generations of genocide survival. “I think the more you share about it, the more you get students engaged and teach them about real history,” she said.

Vann also shared that she felt some of her experiences as survivor of genocide offered her a layer of empathy and understanding as a success coach, and helped her going forward to guide students through adversity. In that work, she has found a way to function in humanity’s most powerful form, the form of community.