Rally for Darfur

I went to the Rally for Darfur in DC with some friends from church today. I was very impressed with both the speakers and the turn-out! It was a great example of how people from all parts of the political and ideological spectrums can come together to work on issues where they can find common ground. I have no idea how to estimate the numbers of a crowd that size, but would guess it was at least around 100,000 people there.

Speakers ranged from holocaust survivors (including Elie Wiesel), Paul Rusesabagina (who saved 1,200 lives during the Rwandan genocide), politicians (including Barack Obama, Al Sharpton, Nancy Pelosi, and many others), human rights activists, religions leaders of all persuasions (Catholic, Protestant Evangelical Christians, Muslim, Jew, Sikh, and more), Republican, Democrats, and many more. I was very impressed with how civil they kept their comments, with only minor and infrequent compliments and jabs at President Bush, and most of them given with respect.

I give a lot of credit to the organizers of the event for keeping it very civil. Unfortunately, the rally lasted longer than advertised and I had to leave before it was completely finished. I missed George Clooney’s speech, which seemed to be the one everyone was most looking forward to.

A few of my favorite quotes from today included:

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“We need to get our politicians to move from the margin of reports to the center of action.” – Joe Madison, Emcee

“If Johnny Cochran and Kenneth Star can come together to save Darfur, you know the world can.” – Joe Madison, Emcee

“Stand-up America, and the killers will stand down.” – Bosnian genocide survivor

“People who fight for their own rights are honorable only as far as they fight for the rights of all people.” – one of the Rabbis

“Efforts do not equal results.” – NAACP representative (Crispian Kirk?)

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Here are a few pictures I took from the rally:

(click images for larger view)







I thought this sign was particularly poignant in the message it conveyed:



Despite whatever political disagreements I might have with him, I thought Al Sharpton was by far the best speaker. He conveyed passion, conviction and received a tremendous response from the entire crowd. Truly a gifted example of how public speaking should be done.



Lastly, here’s a picture of me and some of my friends who came. (From left to right – Rachel, Catherine, Coit and me. Tom also came, but was looking for a t-shirt when we took the picture.)



Whatever your political convictions or thoughts on the best way to handle the situation in Darfur, please pray for the people over there. It truly is a tragic situation and they estimate at least 400,000 have been killed so far with no end it sight.

I’d like to give special thanks to the organizer of the event and to all the speakers and crowd who came out today. It was a great event and I hope it leads to changes in policies that save lives in Darfur. I think everyone can agree that this would be a tremendously wonderful thing.

See my previous posts on Darfur here, here, and here.