NCCJ HOSTS DOCUMENTARY SCREENING

"A Noble Desire," a documentary about the 1999 Benin Reconciliation Conference, will be shown Sunday, Feb. 4 at 2 p.m. in room 101, Mills Godwin Jr. Life Sciences Building as part of a conference on racial reconciliation. Following the screening, participants will be able to discuss the film with a representative from the Benin government, U.S. representatives who attended the Benin conference and the filmmakers.

The conference is sponsored by Old Dominion University's student chapter of National Conference on Community and Justive (NCCJ), along with Virginia Wesleyan College and WHRO.

According to William Hart, faculty adviser for Old Dominion's NCCJ, Benin, a country in western Africa, played an important role in the slave trade. "In the past, leaders of Benin helped bring millions of Africans into slavery," he said. "The current leader of Benin, President Mathieu Kerekou, did a brave thing. His mission was simple: Seek forgiveness from the millions of displaced Africans. He led his entire country in this simple yet difficult venture. President Kerekou along with the Beninese people took responsibility for their country's past and he invited other nations to do the same. 'A Noble Desire' shows this story of forgiveness."

For more information visit http://www.whro.org/benin/apology.shtml or call 683-3834 or e-mail wbhart@odu.edu.