Making Noise for Peace

I sit here, thousands of miles away from the horror of this unimaginable genocide, reading the reports. As many as 300,000 Darfurians dead, 2.5 million displaced . . . broken peace agreements and a seemingly intractable Sudanese government unwilling to take responsibility for its brutal actions.

The numbers are staggering, the problem so distant . . . speaking up seems almost futile.

But then I hear it . . . the drumbeat that won’t let hope be silenced. The drumbeat that’s getting louder everyday.

It’s the humanitarian aid worker that risks her life to give the refugees of Darfur a chance at survival.

It’s the journalists that won’t let the story end without airing the truth.

It’s the survivors of the Rwandan genocide who have the courage to lead a public rally in Brussels.

It’s the South African student activists who give up a day at the beach to educate others about Darfur.

And it’s the thousands of people in the United States that have made the Bush administration and our representatives pay attention to Darfur. People are shocked but they aren’t giving up. And people are not only organizing, but they’re being smart about it.

Speaking to a rally at the Asbury First United Methodist Church on Sunday, former NBA player Manute Bol imparted starpower and practical advice to the anti-genocide movement, "I hear people say, 'We want to send food, we want to send medicine' . . . but when people try to get the food, there is no protection." Peacekeepers, he rightly suggests, is what we need to push for.

Participants in the rally walked away with “Ten suggestions on how to help. . . . They included writing letters to congressional representatives and pushing state legislators to pass laws to prohibit investment of New York's public retirement funds in companies that do business in Sudan.”

Great ideas. Are you ready? Drumbeat for Darfur – Connect, take action, end the genocide.