Call-In Day for Sen Jack Reed 1-800-GENOCIDE Wednesday May 2

      Wednesday, May 2nd is Call-In Day for Senator Jack Reed.  Call 1-800-GENOCIDE and tell him to move the legislative bill out of committee for Darfur and divestment and also to sponsor the bill.  We would like his Darfur support grade to be better than “C”.  The phone call will ask you who you want to talk to (this is a nation wide number) and ask you to press in your zip code.  Talking points will be provided before you speak with anyone.  Remember to thank Senator Reed for signing the Biden-Lugar letter to President Hu of China regarding Darfur.

May 2, 2007

Dear Person of Conscience,

We had a successful Newport Darfur Walk & Gathering Saturday, April 28.  As disappointed as I was that all three network news stations said we were either too far away from their Providence office, that they were typically under-staffed on weekends or…. to come to our event, we did get great coverage from The Newport Daily News in Monday’s paper on two pages, complete with two colored pictures. I loved the picture with all of the signs.  Incidentally the posters that were readable were so well-placed. And last Friday, they published my Darfur Letter to the Editor. 

I have retyped the entire Newport Daily News article, it can be found by clicking the title of this blog post.

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THE NEWPORT DAILY NEWS

April 30, 2007

Article retyped here about the Global Days for Darfur event in Newport, Rhode Island

Newport Darfur Walk & Gathering

Here I have typed the entire article from The Newport Daily News:

Quote at the top of a huge picture : "One voice won't stop genocide, but that's no excuse to remain silent." Sandra Hammel, a retired Portsmouth music teacher who organized Saturday's protest. The picture takes up almost the entire top half of the page showing all the posters, with accidentally all the correct wording of a variety of messages we need to get across.

Headline: Rally heard around the world

Lead in to the article: Local protesters echo global call for an end to the killings in Darfur

by Joe Baker Daily News staff.

NEWPORT- The hardy group gathering Saturday around the front steps of the Florence K. Murray Judicial Complex was a stone's throw from the balcony where the Declaration of Independence was read following its adoption and just down the street from Touro Synagogue, the recipient of President George Washington's famous letter disavowing bigotry and intolerance.

About 50 people donated their weekend afternoon to participate in what they hope is another historic public disavowal of man's inhumanity to man. The rally was Rhode Island's sole event in a weeklong, nationwide series of demonstrations intended to focus attention on the ongoing conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan. During the week, similar demonstrations are scheduled in more than 300 cities U.S. cities and in 40 countries around the world.

Toting signs and wearing demonstrative T-shirts, the local group gathered at Touro Park and wound its way through downtown Newport to Washington Square, where organizer Sandra Hammel urged them to action.

"Bad things happen when good people do nothing," said Hammel, a retired Portsmouth music teacher. "One voice won't stop genocide, but that's no excuse to remain silent.

More than 200,000 (well I stated 400,000, media often picks up their numbers from very old press coverage and then don't keep up on the accurate reports) people have been killed and more than 2 million (there again, I stated 2.5 million) have been displaced from their homes

(continues DARFUR B3)

Extracted quote at top of this section:

"It's time to let people really know what's happening in Darfur." Francis Andersson, resident of Narragansett.

continued
since the conflict began in 2003. The Sudanese government has resisted efforts to allow in a 20,000-strong United Nations peacekeeping force to help bring an end to the armed conflict.

Hammel go involved in the issue three years ago after seeing a news report a out genocide in Rwanda. While researching that, she learned about the situation in Darfur, where Arab militia groups , supported by the Sudanese government, have been waging war against African rebels. Although she admitted that it is sometimes frustrating trying to get more people involved, Hammel said she can feel the tide turning. (These are not my words, he took some poetic license in a different way than my poetic words actually were, but he did do a wonderful job…so I give him some slack).

"This, what we have behind me, is new," Hammel said of the group marching through the streets of downtown Newport. "This is very galvanizing. It motivates you to become more active." (What I really answered to his question of "Don't you get discouraged?" "No, I would do this if I was the only one doing it. Because I believe in it. Well, yes, sometimes it is a little discouraging. Some people don't know it is even going on. But this will be galvanizing to these people today. People sit at home and don't know what they can do. But when they see that there are others who care about this, it gets a momentum going. It is like when I taught school and started a choir. I had to beg the boys to be in it at first. But eventually after it was successful and everyone saw it, everybody wanted to join in. It is human nature. People will want to be a part of this. When they see others stepping up and it taking on a momentum, others will join. We talked along the walk. The reporter asked excellent questions, overall. And I think he did a comprehensively great job. Now, back to the article…)

Among the marchers was Suzette Lefevre, who made the trip from Plainfield, Conn., with her husband, after learning of the event on the Internet.

"I was with my husband, sitting on the couch, watching CNN, and we were eating really good food, and we saw a report (on Darfur)," Lefevre said. "I said I'm sick of watching this stuff and not doing anything."

Making the trek over from Narragansett was Francis Andersson, who owns a construction management company.

"I wanted to show my moral support. We certainly don't want another Rwanda," Andersson said. "It's time to let people know what's happening in Darfur."

The group actually picked up some people as they marched through the streets of Newport. A group of Boston University students visiting Newport for the day decided to tag along. One, Margaret Hartley, was vice president of the university's Darfur coalition.

A group of students from Blackstone Academy, a charter high school in Pawtucket, also joined the march.

"People really need to know about this," Michael Murphy, 16, a junior at the school. "No one is helping them."

Hammel urged the demonstrators to contact their elected officials, especially U.S. Senator Jack Reed, D-R.I., who is on a Senate committee considering legislation aimed at divesting taxpayer dollars from companies doing business with the Sudanese government. The Rhode Island Senate and House of Representatives already have passed individual bills calling for state divestiture. The respective chambers must pass the legislation already approved by the other and they need to be signed by Gov. Donald. L. Carcieri to become law.

"Our presence can empower us to make genocide a word only in the history books yet to be printed." Hammel said.

The end of the article.

I wish I had the two pictures to include here, but I don't at the present time.

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