New Jersey Jewish News
Greater Monmouth County Feature
Monmouth synagogues protest Darfur genocide
Monmouth County’s Jewish community 
made a strong showing at the April 30 Washington, DC, rally protesting the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.
The rally, which was sponsored by the Save Darfur Coalition, an alliance of 165 advocacy, faith-based, and humanitarian organizations, was attended by a large contingent of the county’s Jewish residents, many of whom traveled to the nation’s capital on chartered buses. They joined thousands of people from all over the country who protested the ongoing slaughter in Darfur, which has claimed 300,000 lives and displaced as many as two million people since 2003.
Among the many speakers who addressed the crowd was New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, who, as a member of the United States Senate, coauthored the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act, which would bring sanctions against the perpetrators of the genocide.
“A high percentage of those who attended the rally were part of New Jersey’s Jewish community,” Corzine told NJ Jewish News after the rally. “They have heart, and they stood up for what is right. I thank them for doing the right thing.”
Ruth Messinger, executive director of the American Jewish World Service and an organizer of the rally, urged the crowd to remain committed to the campaign to stop the genocide.
“You are here today for the people of Darfur, for the people I visited who languish in camps, victims of genocide that the world continues to ignore,” said Messinger as she addressed the rally crowd. “Keep speaking out, keep organizing, continue your commitment to move toward the world that should be — a world without genocide, a world where rape is not a weapon of war, a world where people are not left to starve, and a world that makes real the promise of ‘never again.’”
Speaking to NJ Jewish News, Messinger was already looking ahead to future activism. “This is a very important day, but the true test of the success of this rally is if people keep up the pressure until the genocide is over.”
Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), the only Holocaust survivor to ever serve in the U.S. Congress, said the civilized world must unite in the face of the Darfur tragedy.
“If enough people know what is happening there, they will care,” he told NJJN. “The Sudanese government must be pressured into compliance. We must call upon the international community to pressure the government of Sudan to stop the killing. As the Holocaust taught us, a villainous government can’t be counted on to keep its word; it must be compelled to do so.”
Lantos, who was born in Hungary, added that he was familiar with the effects of genocide.
“I fully understand genocide,” he said. “I saw it. I lived through it. I survived it. There needs to be a NATO force and a robust UN presence in the Darfur region. What is happening in Sudan calls for collective action.”
U.S. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.),
who recently led a bipartisan congressional delegation to Darfur, hopes the April 30 rally will inspire the collective action.
“This rally shows that the situation in Darfur is deeply felt by the American people,” Pelosi told NJJN. “It’s an eloquent statement on the goodness of America. But it’s one thing to say the genocide must end; it’s another thing to stand up and do something about it.”
‘The world was silent’
Meanwhile, members of the Monmouth County contingent continue to hope that relief will be forthcoming for the suffering Darfurians. Many county residents traveled to the rally on a bus chartered by the Jewish Federation of Greater Monmouth County.
“When we say ‘never again,’ we should mean it,” said Peggy Gaber-Casey of West Allenhurst, who attended the rally with her husband, Bob.
“Genocide has happened over and over again,” said Gaber-Casey, a kindergarten teacher at the Ruth Hyman Jewish Community Center in Deal. “We’ve seen it many times — in Congo, in Sarajevo, in Rwanda — and the world was silent. By going to this rally, we, at least, are not silent.”
Rabbi Melinda Panken of Temple Shaari Emeth in Manalapan won’t be silent either.
“We just commemorated Yom Hashoa and I kept thinking about this rally,” she said. “We can’t be silent about what is happening in Darfur. Humanity needs to take a stand. Africa has no oil or economy that we care about, but we care about humanity, don’t we?”
Mark Preminger of Freehold said the world’s lack of response to the Darfur genocide was a form of “malignant neglect.”
“The lack of action during World War II was deemed unconscionable,” he said. “In no way is this acceptable now.”
Preminger’s son, Evan, 16, and daughter Kim, 11, accompanied their father to the rally.
“I’ve studied the Holocaust on my own, and I don’t want it to happen again,” said Kim Preminger, a student at Rutgers Prep in New Brunswick. “I want my school to add the study of the Holocaust to the curriculum. They need to teach it.”
The Preminger children were among many members of the younger generation who attended the rally.
“It was amazing to see so many young people here,” said Rosemarie Wilkinson of Holmdel, a teacher at Raritan High School. “They showed their enthusiasm and commitment by their presence today. Those who say young people are apathetic should have seen them today. Their voices count.”
On May 5, the Sudanese government and two of the main Darfur rebel factions signed a peace agreement to end the three years of state-sponsored genocide.
David Rubenstein of the Save Darfur Coalition called the agreement a significant step.
“This is only the first step toward ending the violence in Darfur and putting a stop to the tragic genocide,” Rubenstein said. “But we can take nothing for granted.”
Comment | |
All rights reserved