************

Miami, FL 33143

April 10, 2005

 

Senator Bill Nelson

716 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington D.C. 20510

 

Dear Senator Nelson,

 

I?m a 9th grade student at Ransom Everglades High School in Miami. I?m writing respectfully to encourage you to vote for the Darfur Accountability Act. I have just finished reading Night, by Elie Weisel. This, as you may know, is a book about a boy who is taken by German soldiers to Auschwitz during World War II. In the book, the author painfully describes his experience in Auschwitz and the horrors that he witnessed during his time there. This book really had a profound effect on me and my outlook on the world. Being Jewish, it really got its point across efficiently, albeit grotesquely at times.

 

Now, I?m afraid that a similar event may be taking shape in Sudan, specifically in Darfur. So far, it?s estimated that at least 200,000 people have been killed and over 1.6 million people have been displaced from their homes. A government backed group known collectively as the Janjaweed is systematically wiping out entire towns at a time. The government of Sudan has made no discernible effort to stop the Janjaweed and its mass genocide of the people of Darfur. The situation in Darfur is certainly something that the world cannot afford to have happen again. If there is not a concerted effort to stop the mass killing and suffering in Darfur, then there is the possibility of another Holocaust, something we swore that we would not let happen again. Yet regrettably, we have let it go too far.

 

The first step in stopping this crisis would be to pass the Darfur Accountability Act, which would enable the prosecution of war criminals in Sudan. This is a disaster in which the US must intervene. It is one in which we must stabilize the community and give aid to the victimized citizens of the area. The atrocities that are occurring, such as rape, murder, branding, and the destroying of Darfurian food and water must stop immediately. Unfortunately, the situation in Darfur has only gotten worse over the past months. World aid organizations have had to pull out due to the lack of protection for their workers, and fighting has escalated to an all time high in the region. The Darfur Accountability Act is an imperative first step in the stopping of this mass crisis. I sincerely hope that you can use your senatorial powers to bring about the passing of this act and the resolution of the conflict.

 

Yours truly,

 

 

**********

not a big fan of the yours truly ending

Good to see someone that young getting involved in the world and expressing the rights granted to you. You should be given someone else's voting privilages.

 

btw, why just Bill Nelson and not the junior senator Mel Martinez also??

b/c Mel Martinez has just been reduced to irrelevance.