International News
What’s the Saddest Picture You Have Ever Seen?
By Michael E. Deshields, Esq.
Jun 1, 2007 - 5:02:32 PM

L-R Mike Deshields and his youngest daughter (Jennifer) at a rally this April.

I recently came across my saddest picture, in a book entitled, “Not on our Watch, The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond [1] .   The picture shows a four year old African girl carrying her thirteen month old brother on her back as she flees her village in Darfur because it has been destroyed and her family murdered in the now four year old genocide in her country.

The purpose of this article is to raise your awareness of this terrible crime against humanity and to urge you to make your voice heard for our brothers and sisters in Darfur.

Since 2003 at least 400,000 lives have been taken in a campaign of genocide which has been facilitated by the government of Sudan.   Additionally, thousands of women have been raped and millions have become homeless as the government destroys their villages [2] .

Unfortunately, this is not the first genocide but hopefully we can end it and make it the last!   Approximately ten years ago over 800, 000 of our brothers and sisters were victims of genocide in Rwanda.    After that genocide in which the world stood silently on the sidelines, afterwards the phrase “Never again” was strongly uttered.    Fast forward ten years and we seem to have forgotten those horrors and that promise.   I fear that we have lost our focus and our “leaders” only offer lip service when they make such statements as supporting and developing “a culture of life.”    Is this a selective culture of life or does it apply regardless of ethnicity, color, religion, or creed?   Do we only take an active role in maintaining this “Culture of life” when there is something in it for us?

I would hope that fighting for a “Culture of Life” means we value life no matter what that life looks like.    That does not appear to be the case in our current response to Darfur.    It is a puzzling signal we send to our children when we provide more news coverage on who is allegedly sleeping with whom on “American Idol.”   We tell our children to have compassion for their fellow sisters and brothers yet our actions must seem to demonstrate this is purely lip service.    The point of this article is to bring this situation a little more into awareness and provide you with some ideas on how you can help end this genocide.   The first step is to educate yourself on the issue and then educate others.  

There are several websites that will serve as excellent resources. These include www.savedarfur.org and http://www.genocideintervention.net .   Some other actions would include [3] :

Ø       Urge those in power to do more to help;

Ø       Increase awareness on this issue;

Ø       Generate media coverage;

Ø       Provide monetary support to organizations fighting this issue;

Ø       Attend and/or organize an end Genocide event.

Basically, you can, “Educate, Advocate and Raise Funds [4] ,” most importantly, don’t be a silent witness, take a stand!

Find out how you can help at http://www.enoughproject.org 

For eight books on this subject go to the Amazon Books in the NOBLE Member Mall.

Michael Deshields has  been a Special Agent since 1988 at various agencies.  This has included assignments at the Detachment, Regi onal and Headquarters level. He is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and was admitted to the Maryland State Bar Association in 1998.  Deshields is married with two daughters and a son ( with service in the USMS including a tour in Iraq). Deshields enjoys lifting, jogging and is an avid reader.