Portland Church Hosts Special Event to Mobilize Activists to Help End the Genocide in Darfur

Charlie Clements, president of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, an international human rights organization based in Cambridge, Mass., will be the featured speaker at a special event in Portland on Saturday, March 24, designed to mobilize public action to help end the genocide in Darfur, Sudan.

The event, which is free and open to the general public, will take place from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the First Unitarian Church, 1011 SW 12th Ave., Portland, Ore.

The special event will feature the showing of a new documentary, "Heroes of the Spirit: Genocide Then, Genocide Now." The video tells the heroic saga of UUSC founders Rev. Waitstill and Martha Sharp, and describes how their legacy of rescuing potential victims of Nazi persecution inspires activism today to end the genocide in Darfur.

Martha and Waitstill Sharp were honored posthumously last year as Righteous Among the Nations for rescuing Jews during World War II by the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Israel. They also were honored as "Genuine American Heroes" in resolutions approved unanimously by both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

Clements will discuss UUSC's Drumbeat for Darfur campaign and the urgency for U.S. citizens to speak out and take action to help end the humanitarian crisis that has take n the lives of more than 300,000 and forced the displacement of 2.5 million Darfurians.

For more information about UUSC's Drumbeat for Darfur campaign, visit our Drumbeat for Darfur homepage.