I decided to start this blog because i realized something i find disturbing this evening. I was avoiding doing some of my homework; and so i started showing my little sister Myisha music videos on youtube. I assume to myself now that i have been aware all along, in hopes that it sort of absolves me of the responsibility that i am feeling. I was not aware on a conscious level that there is a genocide going on in Darfur, Sudan.
I have read: research, papers, articles, and personal accounts of what happened in Rwanda and in Sierra Leone where the war over blood diamonds happened. I thought that i had been paying attention to the media, and watching for accounts of what was going in the world. Apparently i have missed it over and over. Darfur has been going thru an “ethnic cleansing”. Since 2002… How can you never have heard about it if it has been going on for 5 YEARS!?! So, i must have heard of what was happening right? There is no way i have been ignoring it. I am going to school with the intention of going into war journalism to cover things just like this, so that we can not ignore it.
When i went to look up news stories about the crime against humanity that is happening as i type this, i found a disturbing shortage. Just references to politicians back in 2004 standing up and saying it has to stop:
U.S. Calls Killings In Sudan Genocide
Khartoum and Arab Militias Are Responsible, Powell Says
By Glenn Kessler and Colum Lynch
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, September 10, 2004; Page A01
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said for the first time yesterday that genocide has taken place in Sudan and that the government in Khartoum and government-sponsored Arab militias known as Janjaweed “bear responsibility” for rapes, killings and other abuses that have left 1.2 million black Africans homeless.
Powell’s long-awaited declaration — the result of months of investigation and discussion within the State Department — is intended to increase pressure on the Sudanese government to end the violence in Sudan’s Darfur region. But refugee organizations and aid groups said it also will make it much harder for the Bush administration to step away from the problem if its diplomatic efforts are unsuccessful.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8364-2004Sep9.html
Or Wikipedia articles which are questionable at best. I also found a few examples of some home made sites by people who care. http://www.lnsart.com/Sudan%20Slave%20Story.htm
But that is not enough. How many people in North America don’t even know? How many people are paying attention to the war in Iraq, or the war in Afghanistan. Wars we started that are not even going to finish. The people of Sudan don’t want us to send our military though, they need our support and they need U.N. troops to come in and help protect the civilians. To provide support and bring a Plan for Peace. I really don’t have much else to say, just that we need to be MORE aware some how. If we cant trust our media to cover the stories that affect more then just our voting public, then who can we count on…
But, you might not agree…
