Darfur Genocide

This one will be updated, because there is so much information. A genocide is currently claiming the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Darfur, Sudan. I started hearing about this genocide about a year ago, after watching Hotel Rwanda with the church youth group that I volunteer with, and deciding to look up the term, "genocide" online. At first, I didn't believe the information I was finding because I hadn't heard anything about it in the news. I decided to research the information myself, thinking maybe the term, "genocide" was a rhetorical phrase used by one special interest group to get people's attention. After spending the day online, however, looking up news articles, special interest sites, and even official governmental sites, etc, I was convinced that it really is a genocide; a whole culture of people really are being killed, though not currently in the way Hitler did it- Darfur is instead using forced poverty and forced homelessness to lead the group down the trail towards death. Then again, Hitler didn't start off killing everyone directly either.
Our government (the U.S.) is involved, trying to end the genocide, but we are not doing much, certainly not enough. The UN is involved; they have agreed that it needs to stop. There have been peacemaking efforts, and some states are creating economic sanctions to force it to stop, but a whole culture of people are being forced into a death-trap lifestyle. I will give examples, but I want to give sources with those examples, and don't have them right now. I know that many people do not believe in involving themselves in the affairs of another country. But if my country forced me out of my home, into refugee camps full of desparate people, where I could not work to obtain food, but had to rely on sharing the minimal in rations, or quite possibly starve, and where I would be fighting a huge risk of being beaten, raped, etc, I would hope that someone somewhere would see me as an individual, and get me out of my situation. A country is like a parent; if it is not willing to provide for the basic needs of its' people, then someone needs to step in. If you want to look it up, for now, here's one path: type "Save Darfur" into your search engine (and press enter). ...update: I now have a site specifically dedicated to understanding the Darfur Genocide: http://understandingdarfurgenocide.blogspot.com

Thoughts on the Apartheid

A woman came here from South Africa to work for a summer. I was her supervisor. Within 3 weeks, she was one of my best friends. She is the one who got me interested in politics.
She told me about Apartheid, and how her family worked against it, but I didn't understand all that it was until a couple weeks ago, when I read a book titled, Kaffir Boy, by Mark Mathabane.
The Apartheid, in my opinion, bordered on genocide. The goal of the white minority at the time, was to force black people into the bottom rung of their hierarchy. They took control of the education system, teaching them how to submit through severe punishment, more than they taught anything else. They created Pass laws, that required every black person to carry a document that described employment status, where they could live, etc. No one could leave the reservations they were assigned to, except if they worked outside of these areas. They were paid so little, that most lived in absolute squalor. High numbers of young boys - 5, 6, and 7 year olds, prostituted themselves for food. The health clinic turned away children with TB, fainting spells, malnutrition, etc, multiple days in a row because the line was too long. A person was required to have his or her pass in order (which cost money to update) in order to get a job legally, but had to have a job in order to obtain a pass, and could be arrested for being unemployed. Raids by the government occurred night or day to ensure that everyone over 16 had their passes in order. Often, families were broken up because men had to move to obtain jobs, but their wives and children were not given permission to join them.
So many people died of starvation. The raids were severe; young children were beaten by police when they didn't tell where their parents were. It was not a crime to kill a black person, so the police could and did do so easily. It seems to me that it was as if the government wanted them dead- at least the ones who were not absolutely subordinate, but tried to organize it in a way in which they could blame the deaths on the victims. It wasn't the same as the Holocaust, in which the army came door to door taking every Jew to enslave or kill. Instead, they were more subtle.

What Political Party Would Jesus Join?

I don't think that Jesus would actually choose one of our political parties; he'd start his own. But what values would characterize that party?
When the disciples asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was, he gave two: to love God with everything that we are, and to love others in the same way that we love ourselves.
The most important aspect of Jesus' party would be to show love. It would not be a party that suggests every man for himself. Instead, I believe it would seek to help each of its' members to grow and to attain their purpose/goals.
As a camp counselor, we did group games that required a team to get from one point to another, through various obstacles. One game used a tire hanging from a branch, to represent a ring of fire. The teams that said, "okay, take turns. Everyone jump through the ring of fire" ended up with a minimum of one person stuck on the other side. But the groups who figured out how to work as a team, showing concern for each member, were able to get everyone across. If you climb up a swinging ladder, all the way to the top, how do you reach down and help the person below you. But if you take a step, then help pull the person below you up a step (to whatever degree they need it), and take another step, then you both can get to the top. Jesus' political party works to help each member through life, pushing even before they themselves are safe, and pulling from ahead, or even going back through the fire to help, when someone gets stuck. Jesus' party would not stop, though, at helping its' own members. It would help everyone who is willing to accept assistance. The Samaritan that Jesus spoke of and praised helped someone he did not know, a fellow member of the human race, but that was it. Jesus' party does not stop at helping only people in the church, or only people in one's own country. Jesus' party helps everyone it sees who needs or could benefit from help.