White Rose

We will not be silent. We will be your bad conscience. The White Rose will not leave you in peace. excerpt from The Fourth Leaflet, written in 1942, of the White Rose (a German, anti-Nazi student resistance movement).


Mr. President and Members of Congress:

In the years following the Holocaust, humankind made a strong promise to its survivors Never again! This vow was renewed only 10 years ago when the international community acknowledged the horrors of the Rwandan genocide. How then can we allow similar acts of atrocity to occur today?

Over the past two years, nearly 300,000 innocent men, women and children have lost their lives and approximately 2 million others have fled their homes in the war torn Darfur province of Sudan. The government of Sudan has repeatedly denied allegations made by the United Nations and other humanitarian rights organizations that it has deployed helicopter gun ships, in association with the Janjaweed militia, to terrorize innocent Darfurians.

In response to the crisis, the United States Congress declared that the horrendous events in Darfur were genocide, and Secretary of State Colin Powell echoed these concerns with his own announcement soon after. According to the World Health Organization, in the seven months since those assertions, tens of thousands of Darfurians have lost their lives, and countless others have been raped, maimed, or exiled.

I applaud Senators Jon S. Corzine (D-NJ) and Sam Brownback (R-KS) for their recent introduction of the Darfur Accountability Act which outlines the measures necessary to promote a resolution in the area. As a concerned American citizen, I urge the President and Members of Congress to adhere to this Acts mandate:

(1) To immediately impose an arms embargo on the Government of Sudan for its noncompliance with international efforts to halt the killings;
(2) to recognize the obligation of the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense to raise awareness about the genocide in Darfur during diplomatic discussions with members of the UN Security Council and other relevant countries;
(3) to appoint and send a Presidential envoy to the region to further pressure the government of Sudan to stop the atrocities and to focus more attention on the ongoing genocide;
(4) to freeze the assets of and deny visas to those who have committed well-documented acts of genocide;
(5) to prosecute, under the auspices of the International Criminal Court, those participating in these crimes against humanity; and,
(6) to send increased funding to the African Union so as to aid its efforts in the region.

I would respectfully appreciate your immediate support for this endeavor because each additional day of deliberation will cause a greater loss of life. Thank you for your time and consideration.