Genocide Then, Genocide Now

An important part of UUSC's message at General Assembly 2006 connected the founding of the Unitarian Service Committee in 1940 with the ongoing work of UUSC in 2006.

At a ceremony on June 13, the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial recognized UUSC founders Waitstill and Martha Sharp as non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during World War II. They were the second and third people from the United States to receive this Righteous Among the Nations designation.

Two events at GA 2006 highlighted this recognition and connected it to UUSC's work today to end the genocide in the Sudanese region of Darfur.

On Thursday afternoon, UUSC President Charlie Clements, Artemis Joukowsky, grandson of the Sharps, UUSC Program Director Atema Eclai, and UUSC Board Chair the Rev. William F. Schulz made these connections for an overflowing workshop crowd.

Clements opened by providing the background to the story and reporting on the recent events in Jerusalem. Joukowsky followed with an emotional personal testimony to the importance of his grandparents' work and UUSC's observance of it. Eclai brought the story into the presentation with a powerful description of what she saw in Sudan, punctuated by a song from Sudan rendered in her striking voice. And Schulz preached (yes, a Thursday afternoon sermon) to the universal importance of the Sharps' story and the extent to which it highlights the importance of organizations as a means of allowing large numbers of people to support and participate in the heroic work of individuals. The Sharps did, indeed, leave behind an organization that continues their work today.

Despite the fact that the workshop occupied the perilous after-lunch schedule slot, few heads nodded involuntarily during just over one hour of presentation and discussion.

Midway through the event, moderator the Rev. Diane Miller moved into the crowd to solicit reflections on this story, and several people offered their personal responses. The crowd was also able to view a short video presentation of Holocaust survivor Rosemary Feigl's testimony in Jerusalem to the significance of the Sharps in her life.

Then, during prime time at the Saturday evening plenary, Clements, Eclai, and UUA President the Rev. William Sinkford effectively condensed the key elements of the story into a fine 20-minute multimedia presentation to over 3,000 people in the conference center's great hall. Clements told the basics of the story with the visual accompaniment of still photos from the 1940s and the acceptance speech given in Jerusalem just days before by the Sharps' daughter, Martha Sharp Joukowsky. Sinkford and Eclai provided the connection to Darfur today with reports on recent visits to Darfur and refugee camps in neighboring Chad.

Creation stories do many things. They often inspire us to action by constantly reminding us from whence we have come. GA 2006 left many more UUs aware of the creation story of UUSC, which is, after all, an important part of the history of all who hold a Unitarian Universalist identity. May that story inspire us to live up to the example of the Sharps and the broad network of people that made their work possible.