lowercase thought.

Rwanda. The word alone conjures up images of death and destruction. To most Americans, it signifies more than just an Oscar-worthy performance of Don Cheadle. You would be hard-pressed to find a college-educated person in the U.S. these days who doesn't equate the word Rwanda with genocide. The coverage of Rwanda since the 1994 tragedy has been extensive, including not only "Hotel Rwanda" but numerous documentaries and major network specials on ABC's Nightline and CNN just to name a few. But hindsight is 20/20 as they say, and the common chorus since then has been "never again".

Never again? Sure.

Darfur. I asked a co-worker recently if the word Darfur rang a bell. She asked, "Isn't that the guy from Al-Qaeda in Iraq?" I don't think a clearer example can be made of just how derelict in their duties a number of American institutions have been in not bringing this genocide to the forefront of our social discussion.

First and foremost, the Bush administration must be held accountable for their utter lack of leadership. A piece in the NY Times by Nick Kristof again highlights the negligence of the world's most powerful government. Too engulfed in its own misadventures in Iraq, Bush and his crew are shying away from serious engagement in Sudan in much the same way the Clinton administration did in Rwanda. With political criticism currently aimed at a failing overseas deployment (Somalia then, Iraq now), the administration is loathe to allow political opponents the opportunity to use another military operation as a means of pointing out shortcomings elsewhere. It's terrible to think that after President Bush gloated about his amassed political capital following re-election in November, he is unwilling to spend just a bit of it on the lives of hundreds of thousands of Darfurian refugees and would rather it be wasted on a Social Security privatization scheme.

Second, the American media deserves an almost equal amount of blame. While it may be true that our nation's political leadership hasn't exactly do its part to put a spotlight on Darfur, our mainstream media has been complicit in following whatever frivolous story it is led to. Darfur? Not when Paula Abdul is sleeping with Idol contestants! Christ, let's waste twenty minutes on American Morning talking about how this alters her work relationship with Simon and Randy. Wait, we've still got a half-hour left...oh, just run another story on how fat Americans are and how we're not eating enough fruits and vegetables or drinking red wine. And if there is a minute or two remaining, fill it with clips of the President splitting logs at Crawford while uttering the words "freedom" and "liberty" randomly.

Finally, America's (and the world's for that matter) religious establishment should be absolutely ashamed at their silence. Sure, some leaders have stepped up and at least mentioned to their flock the disgusting atrocities being done upon the populace of Darfur. However, for the most part they've been mum whilst jumping up and down over judicial nominees. I'm also skeptical as to whether they'd even give a damn if it weren't a situation where Muslims were killing Christians.

Shame on all of you.

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