So i have started reading "A problem from Hell" by Samantha Power and just in the first chapter i have already learned so many of the mistakes the U.S. has made with attempting to stop Genocides. In 1915 one of the first Genocides was recognized, a man named Mehmed Talaat who was the Turkish interior minister decided to rid Turkey of any and all Armenians. He saw them as a problem and felt they needed to be exterminated. The U.S. was warned about the attacks but instead of going in and trying to find out what exactly was happening they just decided to talk to Mehmed and of coarse he told them nothing was happening. The U.S. was constantly warned about the situation and they just thought they should "stay out of business that did not concern U.S. national interests." (7) Henry Morgenthau Sr. who was a German born Jew who came to the U.S. when he was ten years old and had been appointed ambassador to the Ottoman Empire by President Wilson in 1913, has a great interest in what was happening in Turkey he wanted to do whatever was in his power to stop it. Morgenthau constantly sent letters and graphics of the events that were happening in Turkey and even though the Government in Turkey was making it very difficult for him to fact check he still persisted. Morgenthau even spoke with Mehmed about the killings. Mehmed didn't understand why Morgenthau cared so much about the Armenians he thought that Morgenthau should just stay out of their business and let them do with the Armenians as they please. Morgenthau explained why he cared "You don't seem to realize that i am not here as a Jew but as the American Ambassador.... I do not appeal to you in the name of any race or religion but merely as a human being." Morgenthau spent many years trying to get the U.S. to act on the matters in Turkey finally he decided that he would start a fundraiser to make money to have all the Armenian refugees to come to the states and live peacefully. He managed to save a large amount of people just by being persistent. Even though the U.S. didn't feel they had the right to do anything about the murders in Turkey Morgenthau knew it was his responsibility as a human being to save his fellow man. If more people thought like Morgenthau the genocide in Darfur could come to an end at last. If anyone has any ideas on how to get more people involved in the stopping of the genocide in Sudan please comment thank you.

May peace be with you

Hey everyone so i have been doing some research on some simple things that the U.S. and you need to do in order to stop the genocide in Sudan or at least aid in the ending of it. Samantha Power author of "A problem from Hell: America and the age of Genocide" wrote about some of the things that she has learned from researching the genocide in Rwanda. First In the area where the genocide is taking place the government wont let journalist and aid workers to come into the country and since the U.S. government has been very trusting we haven't been going in a doing anything to report the happenings. Second the government needs to not wait for confirmation of it being a Genocide before acting, most of the time and in the case of what happened in Rwanda the government runs around using the world Genocide so much that before they do anything its too late. Third if the government is not going to send in military aid they need to "foreclose other policy options". These are all things that could have helped prevent the massacres in Rwanda and now that we have learned from our mistakes before we now have a chance to redeem ourselves and fix what we did wrong. One thing we can do as individuals is write letters or e-mails to Lobby Government Officials so that they take notice to that fact that people in our country care about whats happening in Sudan and want something to be done about it. So please help the people in Darfur and send you states officials or the government officials letters about your concerns if enough people send them they will listen. I am going to continue to do research on how to prevent the incidents in Darfur so I will keep you posted stay tuned.

May peace be with you everyday

First Day in Independant study

In my first day of my independant study class i went to the library to see about some of the current happenings in Darfur. The situation has become so out of hand that the rebel groups that are supposed to be fighting for the citizens of Darfur are fighting each other. The people in Darfur are giving up some still have hope but the people in America need to give them a reason to have hope right now they are just operating on religiouse beliefs. I bought a new cook book at a store in Kirkwood called Plowsharing and its called "More with Less" i have been making authentic african dishes and other unique dishes from all around the world that are low budget, and dont destroy the world natural resources. I would really like to make a difference in another personal way. I will be begining preparing for my second fundraisor for Darfur but there has to be something i can do to better myself and my way of living. I think over the next week I am going to research some ways for me to live a more not only environmentally healthy life but also a ethilogical life. If anyone has any sugestions please feel free to let me know thank you!

May peace follow you wherever you go.