“If we turn our heads and look away and hope that it will all disappear then they will – all of them, an entire generation of people. And we will have only history left to judge us.”

-George Clooney
April 30, 2006, Washington

On April 30th, 2006 fifteen thousand people gathered on the mall in front of the Capital building. They had come on 200 busses from New York City, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia and other states. They came with their collegues, with their friends and with their families. They came because their grandparents and parents survived the Holocaust. They came because they had survived the Holocaust. They came because their family and friends were killed in Cambodia, Armenia, and in Rwanda. They came because they are Sudanese and they are still alive.

The sun beat down on the crowd as they listening to the drum beats and music steaming out of the speakers. Many people had been traveling all day to arrive in DC. Children sat in strollers and on their parents shoulders. Brightly colored shirts with slogans in different languages could be seen across the lawn, creating a rainbow affect. Unlike most rallies that take place in the same location, the people who filled the lawn had little in common. They came from different corners of the world, different cultures, different religious backgrounds, different linguistical traditions and even- different political parties. They had little in common but the one thing that they did have in common was the fact that they cared about the people of Darfur.

The purpose of the rally was to bring attention again to the crisis in Darfur Sudan. Although a complicated matter, compounded by the already tragic 20 year war between the north and the south of Sudan, there are actions which need to be taken. (Read through the briefings by International Crisis Group specialist, John Prendergast). Those who spoke at the rally ranged from record label owners to movie stars, to Manute Boll and genocide specialists such as Samantha Power, John Prendergast and Gale Smith. Their speeches were not all accurate or suggesting the same response- but they all were well-intentioned and heartfelt.

It is my hope that the rally that took place in Washington, and the other rallies that took place across the country, served as a catalyst for further media coverage of international crisis. I want everyone in America to be able to detect the errors in statistics given at a genocide rally. I want everyone to understand the roll of the United Nations and the African Union- I would love everyone to know where Sudan is on a map. But until then, I am happy to participate in a rally here and there to show group support for people we have never met- in hopes that those people have an opportunity to live and to stand up for what they believe in.