Darfur, once again

I see the matter of the Darfur genocide is once again in the spotlight. Apparently there are still a few people left for killing. My lonely references to that horrible situation date almost to the start of this blog. I put together a bitterly cynical post the following February (2005) as well, but since then I only get angry when I allow myself to remember the evil that has been evident there for all the world to see. Surely, I thought at the time, the Times piece would get some attention. Instead it has taken more than a year for a response to come about. I want to post something again now that the subject seems to be current, but I will have to wait until I am able to do so constructively. Anything I write now will not sound very good.

My suspicious inner man simply cannot believe that all at once a few high-profile politicos and entertainers woke up one morning in a fit of compassion and finally decided to do something about Darfur.

I don't know what ulterior motive there could be, but I have to get past the idea that one must exist before I can move on. Just as the line that "people who want to be a citizen of this country ought to learn English and they ought to learn to sing the national anthem in English" by the president was a transparent play for red-state votes, so too might a "let us do well in Africa" gesture play well to black voters in the mid-term elections. Attention to Darfur could also be a potent red herring to distract attention from the plight of millions of immigrants at home who don't seem to know their place. And what better way to drive a wedge between blacks and Latinos who in the present climate might stand on common ground. As you see, my attitude is not good about this.

Meantime, I just checked the links at the old post and they are still active. Anyone interested in Darfur can go there and read. And if you are moved to pray, send up a word for me to release the bad feelings this initiative has triggered in me. Such feelings are counter to my tagline.