Sudan Sunrise
SUDAN SUNRISE
Somewhere between the death of my WWII veteran father [11/8/07] and today, I was honored by Sudan Sunrise when they asked me to video their conference on Sudanese reconciliation.
The above video is the result.
Much trouble, much work, much juggling of priorities and necessities. I hope and pray that the end product is worthy of the subject.
Hillary Clinton on Darfur: April, 2006
I’ve been transferring my video and photo archives over to an external hard-drive today and I came across this old video I took during a Darfur Rally, related to Simon Deng and his experiences. The video was taken in front of the US Congress, on the West Lawn in April, 2006. Here’s my previous post on that event, which includes more video.
Party wise, I don’t have a dog in this fight. I thought it would be interesting to put this all on the record. Personally, I think she comes across pretty well, at least on this issue.
ADL in Concert against Hate
ADL in Concert against Hate.
Living in Washington can indeed be fun and interesting … from time to time. When I’m not, that is, stumbling over crazy fishwives with bullhorns shouting squeaky inanities in front of the White House. At times I do manage to avoid all that and take in some of the really positive offerings on display in DC.
They do exist.
Tonight was one of those real treats and an opportunity to rub shoulders with honest History, both from the past and in-the-making.
Tonight was the annual “ADL in Concert Against Hate” at the Kennedy Center. My wife, Julia, and I were privileged to attend. Tonight the ADL honored four people with their annual Ina Kay Award, recognizing “individuals for extraordinary acts of courage in confronting intolerance and injustice, extremism and terrorism.”
I was extremely honored to meet once again with Simon Deng and thank him … again … for speaking out against the Muslim Jihad of Racial and Religious Extermination currently underway in the Sudan against both blacks and Christians … especially Christian blacks, but the odd Muslim black is often thrown into the fire as well. Islam is, as we are all constantly reminded after all, an egalitarian religion.
He gave me a hug. A good one.
At the age of 9, Simon was kidnapped and sold as a slave to an Arab Muslim family in northern Sudan. Yes, this still happens.
His first day with his new “family” he was shown a photograph of a man who had his hands and feet chopped off. His masters explained to him that that was what was in store for him if he escaped. Yep. 9 years old. “Religion of Peace”.
Through a fortuitous coincidence, and after many years in captivity, he managed to make his plight known to a traveler from a village near to where he was born. The traveler found his family, who were naturally astonished to discover their son still alive. A cousin managed to help him escape.
Simon has since become an American citizen and has dedicated his life to fighting slavery and bringing awareness to the rest of the world of the genocidal Jihad happening to his people today. Tomorrow, too. His story is one we should all remember.
Another recipient of the Award was Ruth Halimi, the mother of Ilan Halimi who, you may remember, was brutally murdered by a gang of Muslim thugs in Paris, February 2006. Here she is pictured [right] with her daughter.
Ilan was kidnapped and tortured for weeks merely because he was a Jew.
His body was left on the roadside, naked and severely burned by, among other things, acid. He was found, but died on the way to the hospital. He was 23.
Ruth Halimi has become a forceful voice in France against anti-Semitism and terrorism.
In that environment among the growing hordes of the coming Eurabia, hers is an example of truly undaunted courage.
Ruby Bridges was another of tonight’s honorees. Perhaps you remember her from the famous Norman Rockwell painting “The Problem We All Live With“, pictured here.
In 1960, a Ruby Bridges was 6 years old and became the first black child to integrate the New Orleans public school system. I myself was but a wee nip of 5 … but I remember clearly the turmoil of those heady days … and this situation in particular. We were both starting school at about the same time, after all.
Ruby [pictured here, center] was not well received her first year. In fact, all 500 of the school’s white parents withdrew their children rather than have them endure the unendurable … and actually attend Elementary school [sing songs, listen to stories, paste, and draw and color flowers and rainbows and horseys] with a girl sporting her skin color. Hard to believe now, but 46 years make a lot of difference at times.
Additionally, all the school’s teachers resigned rather than face the appalling task of actually teaching her … all except one. Mrs. Barbara Henry [left, in the floral dress] who remained with Ruby, and taught her for the entire year, just the two of them alone in her classroom. Alone in the entire building as it turns out. The entire school year.
I had the honor of speaking with both and shaking their hands. How often does one get the chance to do that?
A further honoree, not pictured here [I couldn't for the life of me get a decent photo of the woman who was there to represent him, Stephanie Chang] was Vincent Chin who was brutally murdered in June of 1982 in Detroit because he was an Asian.
At the time, the US car industry was going through one of its periodic depressions due to forced unprofitability because of insane Union [UAW] demands; and Japanese car makers … and by extension Asians as a whole … were the community scape-goats — a perception encouraged by the United Auto Workers union itself. The UAW, in their zeal, in fact organized “official” anti-Japanese “PR events” like the smashing of Japanese-made cars with sledge-hammers and baseball bats. The UAW distributed bumper-stickers with slant-eyed smiley faces on them. The list goes on.
Vincent was killed by two unemployed UAW autoworker thugs, Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz. They beat him to death with a baseball bat, crushing his skull. Probably a left-over from a “PR event”. One witness said that they swung the bat like a major-league player going for a home run. Oh, and … not that it makes much difference, but just for the record … Vincent’s parents were Chinese. And he worked for GM.
For a variety of reasons, the court system was unable to bring the murderers to justice. Ooops … I’m sorry, I forgot … as I recall they were fined something like $3700 and given 3 years probation in the initial trial. Quoth the judge: “These aren’t the kind of men you send to jail . You fit the punishment to the criminal, not the crime.” I think they also had to pay court-costs. My guess, close to $700 more … give or take.
His mother, a legal immigrant, became a tireless voice against bigotry and formed the American Citizens for Justice.
Following the aquittal of Ebens and Nitz from Federal charges on a technicality after years of court battles, she moved back to China … yes, China … in disgust and dispair.
Bravo, UAW … bravo.
I’ve been crazy busy with a number of projects … nothing to do with the blog.
I notice that Darfur is once again in the news … here are some videos I made earlier this year on that subject:
| Simon Deng, a former slave from Sudan, speaks about his life and his troubled country in a speech on the West Lawn of the US Capitol April 5, 2006. | |
The chairman of the American Anti-Slavery Group speaks about the Arab-Muslim jihad against blacks, both Christian and Muslim, ongoing in Sudan.
Speeches by Elie Weisel (Night, etc.) and Paul Rusesabagina (Hotel Rwanda) … made at the Rally to Stop Genocide, Washington DC, April 30, 2006.
Rally To Stop Genocide.
OK, I suppose we need to address first things first.
So, “Yes” … there were puppets. Two, kinda scraggly, hardly noticeable, somewhat embarrassed and embarrassing puppets. Here they are. From a distance. That’s all there were.
And, “Yes” they were re-treads.
I’ll have some video after I finish processing it. Not much, but interesting I hope.
Requires Windows Media Player
UPDATE: Here’s one version of the video … I was forced to put up a low quality version because of some network issues I can’t surmount at the moment. I’ll replace it with a better quality soon, I hope. I’ll note the change in an update when it happens. I did manage to get Elie Weisel’s speech (at the end of this video) so perhaps that alone is worth it …
UPDATE: Here’s the higher quality video: The first part is of me in my fruitless quest to find any muslim representation at all in the crowd. The second part is Elie Weisel’s speech.
Requires Windows Media Player
UPDATE: I’ve created another video which I will put up today comprising two (2) of the speeches made at the rally: Elie Weisel and Paul Rusesabagina (Hotel Rwanda) which I call “Two Voices, Two Holocausts“. Please check back.
UPDATE: Here’s the new video mentioned above: Speeches by Elie Weisel (Night, etc.) and Paul Rusesabagina (Hotel Rwanda) … Two Voices, Two Witnesses: Two Holocausts.
Requires Windows Media Player
So, on to other things.
This was a large crowd (finally). Not that I support any lefty causes (this rally, though, was a mixture of people from the right and the left) … but the last few anti-war “rallies” they’ve held here in DC have been, frankly, embarrassing. Which is OK, don’t get me wrong … it was just getting all too predicable and boring. I missed the sea of faces. Even crazed anarchist faces.
This was the biggest non-Immigration rally I’ve been to in a long time. I was speaking with a friend on the phone during the rally who (being used to the more underpopulated rallies we’ve been having recently) asked me for an approximate count. “Large”, I said … “very very large.” “A thousand?” she asked innocently. Ha! “Many thousands,” I replied emphatically. This was no anti-war, CodePink affair. There were puppets, sure, but that detracted not one whit from the overall effect. This was the real thing. I’ll leave it to the organizers for the final count … in the tens-of-thousands is my guess.
I couldn’t get close to the rostrum. Not even within 50 yards … people must have camped out. Packed. I could find no footing. After a certain point, no progress was to be had. A wall.
So, I contented myself with wandering the crowd. And, as I wandered the crowd (the very substantial crowd noted and described above) I began to notice a particular trend …
… at first a subtle trend …
… until it became, frankly, overwhelming.
One quick caveat: your humble correspondent is, indeed, MOT (Member Of Tribe). However, I hadn’t seen a concentration of “T” on his scale since I worked on a kibbutz. Tribespersons abounded … I was awash.
I’m not trying to be unfair here … I’m really not. I snapped other signs and other group logos whenever I could.
Here’s one for good measure.
But Jesus-Tapdancing-Christ … “Where” I asked with subdued irony, “are the Arab/Palestinian contingent? Where is the Muslim “street”? That motley crew of oppressed victims and peace-lovers? Where? Aren’t the Palestinians the ‘new Jews’? Shouldn’t they be here in solidarity against oppression? If so, where are they? There was simply none to be seen.” This was a real head-scratcher.
I only ask. To be fair. Indeed, the first video I captured is, in part, my quest to find one … one (1) … representative of that community here in sympathy with some real victims. Just “a”. Did I succeed?
No, not really … not one. I was deliberately wasting your time.
And I was only being funny when I said it was a “head-scratcher”. Ha, Ha. It isn’t. I guarantee you. Go ahead, ask any imam in the ‘occupied territories’ (at least) what they think of the genocide in Darfur and you’ll find them in complete sympathy with the head-choppers, rapists and those forcing famine on entire villages including women and children. That’s their idea of “peace”. That’s what they mean when they say Islam is a religion of “peace”. “Peace” is when no one disagrees, or at least shuts up and keeps their dhimmi place.
This is genocide, my friends, and it is part and parcel with the current international jihad. Darfur is just one face under the hob-nailed Islamofascist boot. Sudan is the reality of the muslim “street”. Forced starvation is what they’d like to do to everyone who stands in their sick, medieval little way. Let no one tell you different.
And you only need to open your eyes to see who are the ones standing firm here. And, oh, it’s the same ones the “Religion of Peace” blames for all its own dysfunctionality. What a surprise.
Yeah, for sure, there were imams giving speeches here today … every now and then some sort of “ecumenical” grouping got up and made the appropriate blather about how everyone agrees, one deity, brothers-in-spirit, blah blah, and there was always at least one imam … it would have been embarrassing otherwise. But they were token … the real test was in the crowd — who bloody well showed up to be counted. And not one bloody member of the “Religion of Peace” could I find. Not “a” representative.
Remember that.
This could probably be called the theme of the rally.
Were there “moonbats”? Sure. “Wingnuts?” You bet. This was a good cross-section of the “Tribe” … there were people on the right and there were people on the left and a vast center. Some speakers praised Bush, some exorcated him.
Here’s a good example of the “pro-Bush” type sign …
Here’s a good example of the “anti-Bush” blather …
Discuss.
Here’s a somewhat interesting sentiment. Something makes me doubt that it would last beyond the first US casualty, but still … and does “chickenhawk” apply here? Your guess is as good as mine.
I’ll leave, instead of the standard “protest babe” interlude, with one of my favorite moments.
Here is a man, a mench, probably a rabbi (but perhaps not) who, like all good MOT’s everywhere, does not allow the Word or the Thought of G-d to depart from his lips, morning or night. So, in the midst of all this humanity, he finds time to open his small Talmud (I have the same edition I believe … I couldn’t make out the particular tractate) and commune with his Creator. More beautiful than any “protest babe” I could find (and there were many).
And he’s not concentrating in spite of the crowd … but rather as an embellishment for it.
Baruch haShem.
There will be a Rally to Stop Genocide this Sunday, April 30 near the west side of the Capitol. This is one of those few issues we all can get behind … left, right, and center … and maybe make a difference.
I’ll be there and expect to get some good video and pictures. I’ll get the photos up as soon as I can get home and then the videos as soon as I can get them processed … probably a couple of hours. Stay tuned.
Check out my earlier posting on this issue regarding Simon Deng’s Freedom Walk earlier this month.
Save Sudan: End Slavery.
I attended the Simon Deng Freedom Walk rally on the West Front Lawn of the US Capitol today, April 5, 2006. Scroll down for some VIDEO.
Simon Deng is, incredibly, a former slave from the Sudan. It’s appalling to think that we’re only a few airline-hours away from the 7th Century.
He was captured by Arab Muslims and sold as war-booty during the regional Arab/Muslim “jihad”. This “jihad” is directed exclusively against the black population in the region, killing both Christian and Muslim alike, and thereby demonstrating the purely racial/genocidal character of this particular, lovely, spiritual “jihad”. Frankly, if “jihad” is some sort of “spiritual struggle” then perhaps the hundreds of thousands of dead need in this region alone to be enlightened on that point. Those are some “spiritual” issues … these people need serious therapy. Or something more “active”.
Starting on March 15 of this year, Mr. Deng and a group of supporters walked from New York City to Washington DC in order to bring attention to the unbelievable conditions faced by his people as a result of continuing Arab/Muslim genocide in the region.
Approximately 200 people attended the rally. Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY) are supporting legislation to support the Sudanese victims of the on-going Arab/Muslim genocidal “jihad”. I have video of both speeches and will be posting both tomorrow. Interestingly, military options were mentioned by both Senators as on the table, in order to save thousands of lives. The speeches were, mostly, non-partisan. This is an issue that should transcend such issues.
UPDATE: OK, I decided against the Brownback/Hillary videos. Too bloody boring. I did, however, create an edited video version of Simon Deng’s speech. I cut it by more than half … not because the material wasn’t good but because he spoke for over 17 minutes and that’s not something anyone will sit through or load on the internet. My version is just slightly over 7 minutes long which, while still pushing it in my opinion, is acceptable.
You might have to hit the play button a few times for it to start and keep running, depending on your connection
Here are some quick quotes from Simon’s speech:
“We want the United States Government to take the leadership, because the United Nations failed. I, personally, I am the last person on earth to believe in the United Nations. For a simple reason. Anyone who’ll believe in the United Nations I will buy him a ticket, and let’s go to Rwanda …”
“My fellow Americans, those victims in Darfur today, they are not counting on the UN … they’re counting on you.”
The situation in Sudan is rapidly deteriorating and something must be done soon.
To the left is a photo of Mr. Deng (who is now a proud US Citizen) holding an American flag.
Mr. Deng also gave a speech at the rally which I recorded. I’ll do some editing tomorrow and perhaps post it along with those of Senators Brownback and Clinton. It was a lengthy speech, however, and may not be amenable to the net. We’ll see. [see UPDATE above]
Thankfully, none of the usual cast of race-baiting victim-mongers showed their faces at the rally. That’s not surprising … Mr. Deng is an honest hero who overcame actual slavery and real violent racism while maintaining his integrity. Looking at him I just can’t see “victim” and I’m sure he doesn’t see himself that way. The strength of his character and the validity of his history would overshadow any attempt at exploitation. It’s no wonder they didn’t show …
Here’s a VIDEO of one of the strongest speeches at the rally, made by the chairman of the American Anti-Slavery Group. Amazing and sad that such a group is still required. He didn’t pull any punches.
Some quick quotes from the video:
“This is a racist jihad. You’re not supposed to say that but that’s the truth.”
“[They] don’t want to be arabized … they want their own culture, their own customs, their own dress and their own language. Arab supremacists won’t abide that, so there’s a jihad.”
“At the UN, the Arab League and the Islamic Bloc along with the Europeans who make money on deals with Sudan are in alliance with mass murder, and they cover it up.”
Yeah … “Religion of Peace”.
