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New Jersey Jewish News Story
Why should we care?
One teenager’s thoughts
by Arielle Wisotsky
Since 2003, the Janjaweed, a government-sponsored militia, has been murdering, starving, raping, and torturing tribal African farmers of the Darfur region of Sudan. Though estimates vary, approximately 500,000 people have been killed and millions have been forced from their homes to live in displaced persons’ camps.
Another terrible African tragedy, but why should we care?
There’s nothing fun or sexy or exciting about this story. Isn’t it more exciting to watch American Idol, or follow Hollywood gossip about Brad and Jen and Angelina, or follow one’s favorite sports team? Of course it’s more fun, and the media bombards us with these stories that most of us read, watch, and listen to.
I like all of these things, but there are more important things to think about now and then, like what kind of person you are and what kind of values you have. We hear a lot about “moral values” and “religious values.” But values shouldn’t just be catch phases to advance certain political agendas. They should mean something.
As a teenager, I want to be someone who tries to help other people in need. It shouldn’t matter if they are black or white; Christian, Jewish, or Muslim; American or African.
The people of Darfur clearly are people in need. The systematic genocide occurring in Darfur has been labeled the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today. The crisis in Darfur has been allowed to continue because nobody cares enough. Nobody cared enough during the Holocaust of World War II, or during the genocide in Cambodia or Rwanda.
What can be done? Write or call your congressperson to demand that immediate action be taken, support relief agencies providing services in Darfur, and write to newspapers to raise awareness about the crisis. As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.… Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.”
And if this doesn’t sound compelling, at least rent the movie Hotel Rwanda. After you watch it, remember that Darfur is the new Rwanda. It is the genocide we can and should do something about.
Arielle Wisotsky is a junior at Ridge High School in Basking Ridge.
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