What will be done about Darfur?

Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit The United States Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. As I walked through the museum I was taken away as I saw the photos and heard the stories of those who were persecuted by the Nazi's during the Holocaust. While I was walking through, I couldn't help but to think about the situation in Darfur. Just as The Holocaust was the biggest genocide of the 20th Century, Darfur is the biggest Genocide of the 21st century, with over 2.5 million being driven from there home in the Darfur region Sudan, with many suffering from starvation and disease and many being killed at the hand of the rebel groups specifically the Janjaweed Militias.

The question that I raise to the Presidential candidates is What are you going to do when you take office? President Bush took the first step, by being the first President in U.S History to declare a genocide, but that is not enough. Yes we as a country can continue to send food and other supplies over to Darfur but until we take down the Sudanese Government the people of Darfur will continue to live in fear. The United Nations is working on the situation in Darfur but we as The United States have a moral responsibility to do our part when it comes to bringing this situation to an end. So lets make Darfur a top priority, and take some of that 10 billion that were spending in Iraq per month and place it into an effort to bring down the Sudanese Government. The first thing that the U.S Government must do is pressure the Chinese Government to stop its oil dealings with Sudan, once this happens the Sudanese Government will feel a huge financial pressures and they will be more inclined to stop and take notice.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum was one of the first groups/organizations to speak out against the atrocities in Darfur back in 2004, and they say that we as U.S Citizens can do four things to help bring attention to the crisis in Darfur.

1. Contact our local media
2. Communicate with your lawmakers and express your sentiments about the situation
3. Get your community engaged and educate them about situation
4. And support the education and relief efforts of various organizations

Some criticize The U.S for not doing enough during The Holocaust and Rwanda situations, although I'm not sure whether those criticisms are justified, we can make a difference and we must not be silent.

~Cam Patt~