Save Darfur Now: Voices to STOP Genocide

   On the bright and sunny Sunday afternoon of September 17th, twenty-thousand New Yorkers gathered in Central Park’s East Meadow to demand the end of genocide that has reportedly claimed 400,000 lives and left 2.5 million displaced in an African country few Americans can find on a map.

    The Central Park event was sponsored and coordinated by the “Save Darfur Coalition.” Based in Washington, D.C., it is an alliance of more than 170 faith based, humanitarian and human right organizations.
The genocide taking place in Sudan is in a region called Darfur. Sudan is located directly south of Egypt, and northwest of Ethiopia. It is approximately the size of Texas. That so many New Yorkers came out to demand the end to the suffering in Darfur speaks volumes about the seriousness of the situation. The United Nations has declared it the greatest humanitarian crisis in the world today. 

    The violence began roughly three years ago when the non-Arab or African tribal groups looking for freedom revolted against the Sudanese government. In return, the ruling Islamic government gave orders to destroy all of the native people of Darfur. This mass slaughtering targeted men, women and children. The orders of the Sudanese government have been carried out by the Janjaweeds, a primarily Islamic militia made up of African Arabs.