Apologizing is Not Enough

A good first step in understanding the human rights abuses that persist to this day is to read accounts of events that have already happened. Books like A Long Way Gone or A Problem From Hell. But what happens next is maybe more important than just being outraged over what has already occurred. We need to use that outrage to make us learn more about events that are happening right now. So if Ishael Beah's book moved you, find out where there are still child soldiers. And if Samantha Power's book called you to action, than you need to look at where there are current examples of genocide, ethnic cleansing, or serious violence.

Darfur has obviously been the main focus of anti-genocide advocates. And after more than three years, we all need to be ashamed that it continues. But we absolutely cannot wait until the violence reaches appalling levels before we get involved. As Nicholas Kristof points out, we should be aware and ready to act in situations before the violence starts, or at least soon after it starts. Remember, in the Rwandan genocide 800,000 people died in 100 days. So let's keep the pressure on Darfur, but let's also be ready to advocate for Congo, Somalia, and now Southern Sudan just to name a few.

I will leave you with a quote from Kristof's column that I linked to above:

Those who focused on Sudan’s atrocities in Darfur, myself included, may have inadvertently removed the spotlight from South Sudan. Without easing the outrage over Darfur — where the bloodshed has been particularly appalling lately — we must broaden the focus to include the threat to the south.

One of the lessons of Darfur, Rwanda and Bosnia is that it is much easier to avert a genocide ahead of time than to put the pieces together afterward. So let’s not wait until gunshots are ringing out again all over the south.