Young Writers Society

To Monday. I know that's not much more time, but maybe just maybe I could get a little helpful input. It's about 1000 words.

---

Right now in Africa, in the country of Sudan, people are being killed in a place called Darfur because of who they were when they were born. These people are being massacred in what is called genocide. US citizens, as first world citizens, have a responsibility to be informed of such crises so that they can correspond with and effectively influence their government and decision makers beyond their borders to make a difference.

It almost stops being a question of what can be done, and instead becomes what can you, or what can I, do. Before rushing in know that the killing is funded by the Sudanese government, the victims’ government. Know that in 4 years more than 500,000 of our brothers and sisters in Darfur have died of violent deaths. Know that this figure does not include starvation, AIDS, and other diseases. However, one should also know that steps are already being taken. Unfortunately not enough is being done, as there is still suffering. The aid that is being sent by the various humanitarian groups, many of which spring exclusively from the United States, is often intercepted by gunmen who then loot the refugee camps. So children are still starving and the enemy is being aided by good intention. It almost gets to the point where hope is inconceivable, but as anyone who has ever been a survivor of anything can tell you; hope is never inconceivable.

Start by becoming armed with knowledge. It’s everywhere; look for it on television, on the internet, in the newspaper, or on the lips of a friend. With this armament, a battle against genocide can begin, one that holds the lives of the remaining approximately 600,000 people left to save in Darfur. If in this battle the side of righteousness triumphs, imagine what that says to the rest of the world. It says, “I can be saved.” It says, “I can save you,” and it discourages those that would dare to imitate such atrocities. The battle cannot be won purely with knowledge though. It is what is done with this knowledge that makes it such a fierce weapon. It can be used to pressure and guilt an isolationist government into doing what’s right despite the costs. It can be used to convince politicians that giving aid to those in need goes should go beyond a responsibility and instead be a reaction. What is so amazing about the power of knowledge is that it directly descends from an individual and from that, a movement is started, and from there goals are accomplished.

The second step is to inform others and draw attention to the cause of alleviating genocide so that more ground can be covered more quickly and more effectively. And what better place to start than with the reader? Genocide is defined as the crime of destroying or conspiring to destroy a group of people because of their ethnic, national, racial, or religious identity. It has occurred innumerable times lost to history, but there are many cases documented. As far back as the 5th and 13th centuries, the infamous Atilla the Hun and Genghis Khan committed genocide in conquered lands. During World War II the Ottoman Empire committed the rape and murder of over 1 million Anatolians. The Holocaust had death tolls above 6 million, including but not limited to Jews and Romas. From 1975 to 1979 in Cambodia, the Communist, Khmer Rouge, killed close to 1.7 million Cambodians. In 1975 Indonesia invaded East Timor, Indonesia’s attempt to subdue and “integrate” the region resulted in the deaths of about 200,000 people—more than one-third of the indigenous East Timorese population. In 1994 in Rwanda between 500,000 and 1 million people, mostly of the Tutsi ethnic group, were slain after a coup by extremists of the Hutu ethnic group. During Guatemala’s civil war, from 1960 to 1996, an estimated 200,000 people were killed or disappeared, most of which were attributed to the Guatemalan government. Why is it then that only a few of these cases are common knowledge; because they were allowed to be overlooked and forgotten. As US citizens, it must be recognized that forgetting or ignoring something as serious as genocide is not an option. In fact it’s our responsibility to prevent that from happening.
The next logical step would be to lead by example in the hopes that others follow. Although the Darfur crisis is an international effort, it is being spear-headed by the United States, as many international efforts involving the US are. What better example can be given of how a nation should act when dealing with an issue like genocide than by rallying behind the cause? Thus it becomes the US citizen’s responsibility to be active, even in the minutest way. It could be as simple as giving monetary aid, lobbying, or just telling a neighbor, but it is critical that US citizens, above all, be active in the aid of the less fortunate. This step is essential in that in its completion greater strides can be made towards not only alleviating genocide, but hopefully in eliminating it. Because if just one country gives does a little bit more, that could be the difference between saving hundreds or thousands of lives, or not.

In the end it comes down to a few decisions. Do you believe that you have the responsibility to interfere in the affairs of countries thousands of miles away? Are the repercussions of interference worth the effort? If they aren’t, then would you feel bad about helping the people that you helped? For most this is an easy decision; for others it is a difficult decision weighing logic, economics, and politics against idealism, hope, and the heart. As for me, personally, I believe that when a preventable injustice is left unchecked, that steps have to be taken to right the wrong, even if I’m the only person willing to stand up for it. What do you believe?