June 2006
The Million Voices for Darfur Campaign achieved its
ambitious goal this week with a symbolic yet powerful
moment on Capitol Hill in Washington as two congressional
leaders joined in a bipartisan action to sign the 1-millionth
postcard to President Bush.
"We are excited to be part of reaching this milestone in
mobilizing public support," said UUSC President Charlie
Clements. “When a million people from across the country
can speak with one voice on this issue, it sends a
powerful message. But we must acknowledge that much more
work needs to be done to reach our ultimate goal of
ending the genocide in Darfur and bringing peace to the
region.”
UUSC is part of the Save Darfur Coalition, an alliance
of 167 faith-based, advocacy, and humanitarian
organizations pressing for a stronger, more effective
international peacekeeping force to stop the genocide
that already has claimed more than 200,000 lives and
displaced 2.5 million people. As part of our advocacy
work to end the genocide in Darfur, UUSC and UUA
collected 10,000 postcards from congregations, at
speaking engagements and through our website. Our Human
Rights Defenders also helped win $173 million in
emergency supplemental aid for humanitarian and
peacekeeping in Darfur. Together we are making a
difference.
The Million Voices for Darfur postcard campaign was
launched in January to send a united message to
President Bush, urging him to use the power of his
office to increase U.S. funds for peacekeeping and
humanitarian aid, and to urge a strong United Nations
military presence to replace the undermanned and
ineffective African Union forces in Darfur.
Shelley Moskowitz, UUSC’s Washington, D.C.,
representative, attended the Million Voices campaign
ceremony in the U.S. Capitol, as Senate Majority Leader
Bill Frist, (R-Tenn.) and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.)
joined together to become symbolically the one millionth
U.S. citizens to sign the postcard.
The postcards read as follows:
"Dear President Bush,
"During your first year in the White House, you wrote in
the margins of a report on the Rwandan genocide, 'Not on
my watch.' I urge you to live up to those words by using
the power of your office to support a stronger
multinational force to protect the civilians of
Darfur."
At the ceremony, the Rev. Gloria E. White-Hammond,
chairwoman of the Million Voices for Darfur campaign,
noted, "A million Americans have joined in declaring
'Not On Our Watch.' It is imperative the president
understand what these million Americans do: that a
United Nations peacekeeping force will be the only true
protection for the refugees of Darfur. The president
should answer these million calls for action by using
his leverage on the Security Council and by immediately
appointing a U.S. presidential special envoy to Sudan."
UUSC has joined with our political and NGO allies to
call for a U.S. presidential special envoy to Sudan to
coordinate American policy in the country and Darfur
region. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick
resigned last week – the fourth of the top five
high-level, Darfur policy officials within the
administration to announce his departure in recent weeks
– and calls have increased for a special envoy to ensure
that Darfur remains an administration priority.
