The Traveler

Issue date: 1/25/07 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: Brian T. Wolf

The latest report out of Darfur, Sudan, where genocide has been in progress since late 2003, is that the crisis has radically increased in violence and that international observers fear that if something is not done soon to halt the Sudanese governments' attacks on internally displaced and refugee camps, the situation might degenerate into a full blown genocide in which the black Africans of Darfur are wiped out.

After all of the hand-wringing over the lack of action to halt the Nazi Holocaust (1933-1945), the Khmer Rouge-perpetrated genocide in Cambodia (1975-1978), and the Rwandan genocide (1994), and the genocide in Srebrenica (1995), it is horrifically disconcerting that the international community (made up of individual nations, yes, but also individual citizens such as you and me) has done so very little to halt the genocide in Darfur.

I am the first to admit that the United States has its hands full with Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and North Korea. I also readily recognize the fact that the United Nations has its hands full in Lebanon, East Timor, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Kosovo, Burundi and others places. But, it is also true that the U.N. has stated, time and again, that it is ready to send troops to Darfur but has not dared to do so because of bellicose threats made by Sudan's President, al-Bashir. Something, however, must be done, and done now, to prod the U.N. to quit its cowering in the face of a murderous tyrant.

More than one million U.S. citizens have sent letters to the White House demanding that the U.S. prod the U.N. to take action. No one except the White House knows for sure whether the aforementioned letters sparked the recent call by the White House for action by the international community to halt the killing in Darfur. What one can say is that the letters certainly didn't hurt the cause to halt the genocide.

What is critically needed now is for even more U.S. citizens to write to both the White House and the U.N. calling for immediate, effective action to stanch the killing in Darfur. Time is of essence.

For the past two years I have written one guest commentary after another on the Darfurian crisis. In each, I've beseeched readers to (a) write letters to their Congressional representatives and the White House; (b) sign one of the many petitions now available calling on the U.N. to take action to halt the killing; and (c) submit letters to their local newspapers calling on their fellow citizens to stand up and be counted vis-a-vis this issue. And yet, little has come from such attempts to move the average citizen to action. I now find myself asking, "Why is that the case?"

I mean, just how difficult is it to write a single letter to an U.S. official (preferably President Bush or Secretary of State Condeleeza Rice) asking him/her to apply relentless pressure on the United Nations to act to stanch the ongoing killing? A letter that certainly would take less time to write than watching a half hour situation comedy (e.g., "Scrubs," "The Office," "Two and a Half Men") or a reality show ("Flavor of Love," "The Hills," "The Girls Next Door"). Less time than it takes most to drive to his/her church, synagogue or mosque. And certainly less time than it takes to do the week's shopping, go to a movie, browse in shops at a local mall or attend a football game.

Maybe I was naive to think that my guest commentaries calling on congregations of Christians in the area to speak out about the genocide in Darfur would result in something more than passivity. I am beginning to think that many Christians may only care about and look out for their own kind. The reason I say that is that when black African Christians were being attacked in southern Sudan by the very same government that is now behind the killing of the Black Africans of Darfur, large numbers of the Christian community (especially the evangelicals) not only expressed their outrage but placed implacable pressure on the White House to stop the atrocities. But, today, Christian action on the behalf of the Black African Muslims of Darfur is, in comparison, negligible.

Maybe I was equally naive to think that scores of students on this campus would begin speaking out about the genocide once they were cognizant of it. A handful, have stood up and spoken out - 20 or 30 at most out of some 17,000 plus students.

Granted, students lead busy lives - going to classes, studying, working, partying, and going to the football games. But even if only half of those attending the football games on Saturday would write a single letter, it could make a difference.

And maybe I was also naive to think that those who read the editorial pages of the papers in Arkansas and write letters to the editor would deluge state and local papers with letters to the editor demanding that their Congressional representatives do something to halt the slaughter Darfur. I've seen two such letters mixed in with letters about the coaching of UA football coach Houston Nutt, the fate of the Hogs at the hands of USC, the hope placed on the shoulders of UA quarterback Mitch Mustain, and so on and so forth.

Thank goodness there are a few good souls in Arkansas who have been moved to action. Certainly the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, in its editorials and news articles, has played a significant role in getting the word out about the genocide in Darfur. And a good number of folks in northwest Arkansas have stood up to be counted: George Arnold in his editorials in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette; UA students Katie Fourmy, Thomas Vo and John Terry who organized the STAND (Students Taking Action Now: Darfur) chapter at the UA; Reverend Lowell Grisham, who dedicated a morning to availing his congregation at St. Paul's Episcopal Church about Darfur; and the various groups (the Fayetteville Rotary Club, former Peace Corps Volunteers, the local Quakers, the UA Law School, among others) that have requested speakers on Darfur and then graciously provided time for their members to sign petitions calling on the U.N. to act now to halt the killing.

I realize and appreciate that people are very busy with families, jobs and dealing with all of the vagaries of life, but I also believe that most people have good hearts and will act in good conscience when they perceive others to be in dire need. Ample evidence of that as of late was the outpouring of concern for the victims of hurricane-devastated New Orleans and the victims of the tsunami in Asia. What I can't figure out, though, is why so few are moved to action about genocide. I mean, it didn't happen in during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, the 1995 genocide in Srebrenica, and it certainly has not happened the past three years as hundreds of thousands have been killed and young girls as young as eight have been subjected to brutal rape by the perpetrators of the genocide.

Samuel Totten is a UA professor for the College of Education and Health Professions. He recenly edited "Genocide in Darfur: Investigating Atrocities in the Sudan."

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