[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 167 (Wednesday, October 31, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2292]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 RECOGNIZING AND COMMENDING EFFORTS TO RAISE AWARENESS ABOUT AND HELP 
  END THE WORSENING HUMANITARIAN CRISIS AND GENOCIDE IN DARFUR, SUDAN

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                               speech of

                          HON. LYNN C. WOOLSEY

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 29, 2007

  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 573 and 
to commend grassroots and advocacy groups across the country for their 
powerful voices and invaluable efforts to raise awareness about the 
deepening humanitarian crisis in Darfur. This resolution will honor 
these groups for their hard work and urge the government to use its 
influence to halt the killing of innocent people in Darfur. Local 
communities continue to insist that the international community honor 
its responsibility to end the ongoing genocide in Darfur. We must heed 
their message, because it is one we cannot afford to ignore.
  As a member of the House Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health, 
the Congressional, the Human Rights Caucus, and the Congressional Sudan 
Caucus, I share their immediate concern that our country must do 
everything it can to end the genocide in Darfur. More than 2.5 million 
Darfurians have been displaced from their homes and as many as 400,000 
Darfurians have needlessly died over the last four years as a result of 
violence, hunger, and disease.
  The tragic events unfolding in Darfur have been felt intensely by 
local communities across the world. The strongest efforts to end the 
genocide will grow from the concerns of American citizens who can no 
longer sit quietly by while the atrocities in Sudan continue unabated. 
I am proud to represent the people of California's Sixth Congressional 
District, who are among the people most involved in stopping the 
genocide in Darfur since the crisis started.
  Dear Sudan, now an international movement, began in my hometown of 
Petaluma in 2004. Their goal was to raise enough money from citizens of 
Petaluma to feed the refugees from Darfur for one day. Dear Sudan, Love 
Petaluma was so successful that other communities began organizing 
first locally, then spread across the Nation, and recently founded 
chapters in other countries across the world.
  Dear Sudan, Love Marin has hosted educational forums and worked to 
develop a broad coalition of religious and community groups, 
encompassing the entire San Francisco Bay Area. Another group, Marin 
Interfaith, has been instrumental in spreading the message about the 
ongoing genocide to the religious community at large.
  Additionally, students throughout the Sixth District have organized 
under Save Darfur, other national organizations, or on their own to 
help raise awareness for the crisis in Darfur by planning educational 
forums, rallying, and washing cars to raise funds for refugees. Just 
this past weekend, a student group in Santa Rosa held a car wash at a 
local market, and this December, a group of students from Terra Linda 
High School are planning a half-day conference on the genocide.
  Groups like these demonstrate the best elements of our Nation, where 
people can come together to work for change in the world. It is with 
their energy and passion in mind that we must renew our commitment to 
end the genocide in Darfur.

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