Following the genocide in Rwanda, Senator Paul Simon said, "If every member of the House and Senate had received 100 letters from people back home saying we have to do something about Rwanda, then I think the response would have been different."

...what if we could STOP one? And what will history say about us if we don't?

With these two, very powerful questions a new campaign, Million Voices for Darfur, opens it’s mailing.

We failed to stop the brutal actions in Armenia when the world did not even have a name for what was occurring. We failed to stop the Holocaust even when we knew what was happening. We turned away from the killing fields of Cambodia, many of us exhausted from fighting our own government over Vietnam. We didn't believe that "ethnic cleansing" was occurring in Bosnia until it was too late. The UN pulled its troops out of Rwanda and we all turned our backs on that horrific 100 days of terror. In South Sudan, the world was preoccupied with other events and hoped the killing would stop. Now, we have faced 3 years of killing, raping, kidnapping, destroying, burning, starvation in Darfur. Will we rise up to stop this genocide, or will we hope that someone else will do it for us.

We cannot say we don't know. This time, major newspapers like The New York Times have written extensively on what is happening in Sudan and the Darfur province. Major television news shows like NBC's Today show and Nightly News recently spent a week highlighting the horrors. The United Nations has debated what to do but stopped short of officially using the word "genocide" while the United States alone has called what is happening exactly what it is - GENOCIDE. And still the killing continues.

Here is what the Million Voices for Darfur campaign says:

The 20th Century is haunted by the ghosts of the millions of innocent victims of genocide the world failed to protect. From the Holocaust to Rwanda, the question of "How could this be allowed to happen?" will hang in the air forever.

And those who stood by will be forever defined by what they failed to do.

Here at the dawn of the 21st Centruy, a new genocide is unfolding in the Darfur region of western Sudan. In a time of tsunamis and devastating earthquakes, the UN has called Darfur "the world's greatest humanitarian crisis." Nearly 3 years since the violence began, the massacres continue, women are still routinely raped as a means of ethnic cleansing, and children still go hungry.

We have the power to stop it. But we must act today, before it is too late.

Following the genocide in Rwanda, Senator Paul Simon said, "If every member of the House and Senate had received 100 letters from people back home saying we have to do something about Rwanda, then I think the response would have been different."

A few moments of effort, repeated a million times over and focused behind a single message, can have an impact on millions of lives.

Instead of morning a genocide, what if we could stop one? AND WHAT WILL HISTORY SAY ABOUT US IF WE DON'T?

So often, faced with something as large and overwhelming as the mass destruction of an entire ethnic group, we can all feel helpless. It is easier to return to our daily lives and believe that someone else is better able to deal with this. The fact is, you are that someone else, and you can make a difference.

--Write a Letter to your Senators and Representative.

--Send a postcard to President Bush, reminding him of his handwritten note in the margin of a report on Darfur, "Not on my watch."

--Go to Million Voices for Darfur or Save Darfur to learn more about what is going on and what is needed.

--Get your church/temple/mosque/sangha involved by organizing a week of prayer and action for Darfur.

--Join the Rally to Stop Genocide in Washington on April 30th

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead