Dear President Barack Obama,







January 20, 2011

Before I officially begin, I would like to quote a famous person who knew how to speak to the masses:
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
Now, as you may know, there are situations occurring in Darfur, Sudan that, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, are great enough to earn a genocide emergency, which is exactly what happened in 2004. By my (and possibly many others’) opinion, we need to do something about this. It may seem drastic, but we have done it before (i.e. the Holocaust, Civil Rights Movement) , and, for all we know, the situation is getting worse by the second.

Currently, there are an estimated 2 million people dead, 3 million placed in camps, and 4 million displaced, by the actions occurring in Darfur. These “actions,” unfortunately, include, but are not limited to: Obstructing humanitarian aid, the bombing of civilian sites, including schools, hospitals, and clinics, destroying indigenous cultures, and impeding and failing to fully implement peace agreements. We are also having with China, which owns most of the land in Sudan, and the Sudanese government itself. Remember when Former President George W. Bush went to China (in 2008, during the Olympics) , and embarrassed them about the situation in Darfur? Why don’t you do the same thing with Sudan, or the U.N.? Face the masses, be a diplomat, and tell them to stop this! One thing I want you to think about is how the children and women are being sexually assaulted and killed. Can you imagine your family in this situation? This is why it must stop: Innocent people are being assaulted and murdered!

One major problem is that Sudan is saying that most of their actions aren’t really happening. In reality, we have evidence (such as the photos and accounts of Brian Stiedle) that clearly says otherwise. This adds more and more to the government’s list of crimes they’ve committed.

Now, you may be thinking: “How are we going to do this?” We have done this before, by either changing unjust laws (Remember the case of Brown vs. The Board of Education? The Emancipation Proclamation?) , by handling the situation directly. With the Holocaust, then General Eisenhower sent the “Screaming Eagles” to free the people imprisoned in the camps; then, we persecuted the Nazis responsible for the crimes. We’re doing basically the same now with members of the Ku Klux Klan. We can stop this: we just need to use examples from the past to guide us.

Remember, there are awful crimes being committed by the Sudanese government against the civilians (Could you picture your family in this situation?) in Darfur, and we need to stop it. Go to the U.N., tell them off, be a diplomat on a mission! If we work hard enough, and push them enough, we’ll have saved millions of peoples lives! And remember what Martin Luther King, Jr. once said: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” So I have one last question for you: Will you be silent about Darfur?

Sincerely,
Joshua