Why Should We Care?

In 2005, a New York Times reader wrote to Op-Ed columnist Nicholas Kristof, who had been writing regularly about the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan, and asked the following question: “Why should we care?” The reader went on to say that the United States should “take care of its own” and that “not every wrong in the world is our responsibility.”

What a disgusting argument. In the wake of a devastating tsunami, Americans sent millions of dollars from their own pockets for people they did not know. They did this because those people were dying from a natural disaster, a disaster that could strike anywhere at anytime. Americans sympathized with those affected by the tsunami.

Some would argue that, in the case of the tsunami, those people were a lot like us. The nature of a natural disaster made it easy to give. After all, the people whose lives were destroyed in the tsunami did nothing wrong. It could happen to anyone.

That’s true. The people who died, and who continue to struggle to rebuild, had no control over their destinies. The world responded accordingly.

But what about Sudan? Why should we care? Why not just “take care of our own?”

Those dying in Darfur are no more able to change their state than those who were swept away in the tsunami. At night, armed militias ride into their towns and kill their people. When they try to escape, girls are gang-raped and killed. Even at refugee camps, people are attacked and targeted. The people of the Darfur region have done nothing to instigate these attacks. True, this destruction is wrought by men – but unlike the tsunami, we have the power to stop it.

That’s why we should care. We have the power to do something. At UUSC, we have started the Drumbeat for Darfur campaign. Get involved, talk to people, read about the conflict. Write the president. Write your legislators. Talk to your children. Do something.

This genocide, this disaster . . . it can be stopped.