Prevent Hotel Darfur

Apr 22, 2005 03:05


I cried, and cried, and cried, for two straight hours. I saw Hotel Rwanda. Never in my life have I been so affected by something. I cried at all the sad parts, and I cried at all the happy parts. I don't think I've ever cried tears of joy like that. Actually, happy or sad, I don't think I've ever cried tears as genuine as those. That movie was so disturbing that I probably won't sleep tonight. But so powerful, and so touching, that all I can think about now is life. Right now, in Darfur, Suddan, over a million people, having been driven from their homes into the desert, are facing death from starvation and disease. The Sudanese Government and militias are attempting to prevent humanitarian aid from reaching them, all the while detroying the people of Darfur's villages and crops, poisoning their water supplies, and murdering, raping, and terrorizing them. This, my friends, is genocide. It has happened before, in other countries, and other continents. And every time it happens, the American government says it wont happen again, but you know what, it keeps fucking happening. I complain everyday about food, when the death toll from starvation and disease alone is 180 thousand. I'll be the first to admit that I'm an asshole. The total estimated death toll is almost 400 thousand. The total death toll for the genocide in Rwanda ten years ago was 1,000,000 lives. Is our government going to sit around and wait for 600 thousand more people to be slaughtered before we do something? We're supposed to be the strongest fucking country in the world, but we don't want to get involved. We're not fucking Switzerland. We established ourselves to be a world power, now we better own up to our reputation, instead of turning our goddamned heads the other way. I don't care if it bothers anyone when people say that America sucks or whatever it is that people say, but I am so not a big America fan right now. So, if you can sleep comfortably in a warm bed every night, so damned proud to be an Amercan, knowing that while we live our luxurious American lifestyles, people are being masacred, then hey, more fuckin' power to you,  but I can't close my eyes and allow our government to sit idly by and do nothing. I've never been more proud to be part of an organization as I am of Human Rights Awareness on Campus. This week alone, we have collected more than 1,000 letters to be mailed to our congressmen, senators, and president. The late Senator Paul Simon said, in 1994 after the genocide in Rwanda, "If every member of the House and Senate had received 100 letters from people back home saying we have to do something about Rwanda, when the crisis was first developing, then I think the response would have been different." Therefore, I urge everyone to write a letter, sign a petition, anything. Hell, I'll give you the paper, envelope, and stamp if it would further encourage your effort.

And in case you need more encouraging...











This child had his face bashed in, presumably with a rifle butt, during a massacre in Hamada in January.




This man was castrated and then shot in the head. This is a common fate of male prisoners taken by the Janjaweed.






"The situation in Darfur is dire. The choice we face simple. Act now to help save lives and stop the genocide, or watch as another chapter of injustice, cruelty and tragedy gets added to human history. Let’s learn the bloody lessons of Rwanda, the Holocaust, and Armenia."
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