From Rwanda to Darfur
October 21, 2006
My bride and I watched Hotel Rwanda last night. Like the first time we watched it, the story was gut-wrenching and conscience searing. The civilized world closed its eyes as Tutsi Rwandans were murdered by the thousands by their Hutu countrymen. I don’t feel culpable for or complicit in those atrocities. The Rwandan genocide transpired while I was in college. I was still a kid, or at least still acting like one. I was blissfully ignorant. The current crisis in Darfur is less convenient for me. Evil has reigned in Darfur for three years. Systematic acts of violence are ongoing. As SaveDarfur.org explains:
Darfur has been embroiled in a deadly conflict for over three years. At least 400,000 people have been killed; more than 2 million innocent civilians have been forced to flee their homes and now live in displaced-persons camps in Sudan or in refugee camps in neighboring Chad; and more than 3.5 million men, women, and children are completely reliant on international aid for survival. Not since the Rwandan genocide of 1994 has the world seen such a calculated campaign of displacement, starvation, rape, and mass slaughter.
So, I sit here . . . wondering . . . What can I do? What should I do? How can I not do something?
Comments
To learn whether your members of Congress have worked to end the genocide in Darfur, visit
DarfurScores.org.
Posted by: Ramsey Wilson | October 26, 2006 12:05 PM