I was privileged enough to not only hear Ambassador Wilson speak at UC Santa Cruz, but I got to chat with him for a few minutes after the event was over. He told me that he no longer wanted to work in government but that he was proud of his past service. I then began speaking with Ambassador Wilson, an expert on African affairs, about the crisis in Darfur. The group I am a part of, Students Together Opposing Poverty, has been attempting to raise awareness about Darfur for about a year now. I figured that I would ask Joe Wilson if he would provide us with a written statement about the conflict.
Of course he never got back to me. He is too busy lambasting the reckless and inept Bush administration on his national speaking tour. However, I hope that Ambassador Wilson takes the genocide seriously and begins raising awareness about this grave injustice. The CIA leak case has recieved minimal media attention now that Karl Rove has been let off the hook, but the Scooter Libby trial will start on January 8, 2007. Until then, Ambassador Wilson must put time and energy into educating the American people about the genocide in Darfur because the mainstream media has not.
In his speech, Ambassador Joseph Wilson explained that it is up to citizens to speak out against injustice and tell the truth no matter what obstacles or opposition stands in the way. I call upon Ambassador Joseph Wilson to relate this message to having the public take action regarding the genocide in Darfur. Ambassador Joseph Wilson cannot do it alone: but he can inform people about the situation in Sudan and urge the average American to get involved.
Though it is up to someone with a prevalent, familiar voice to speak out against injustice and set the spark, the responsibility to organize and resist genocide ultimately rests in the hands of the people of this nation. We must look back at the genocide in Rwanda. The people of this nation were not powerless but under informed. The international community was silent and inactive. In their silence still echoes the screams of hundreds of the thousands of innocent civilians who were murdered. Ambassador Wilson: it is happening again.
As the footprints that Darfur refugees leave behind after being chased from their homes and villages are being etched in the sands of time, will we allow our footsteps and deeds to be recorded in history as unaccounted for and untaken? When women are raped by militia men and innocent men, women and children are murdered in front of their families and friends, we must have the courage not only to say no and speak out aginst these barbaric acts: we must plant the seeds of change through our activism. When we remain silent, we allow atrocities and brutality to happen. If we fail to stand behind our principles and morals, we are to blame.
I call upon Ambassador Wilson to do what President Bill Clinton should have done a long time ago: hold this administration and the media accountable and inform the citizenry about the genocide in Darfur and what they can do to alleviate the suffering of the people of Sudan. If we do not stand up against genocide, than what do we stand for?