DO WE COUNT IN OUR DEMOCRACY? AND WHO GETS TO ANSWER THAT QUESTION?

Edward and Edwin Mutanguha

"You have something others envy ~ your freedom" is what Edward Mutanguha said to us on a Saturday afternoon in late October in Providence, Rhode Island on the State Capitol grounds. And with that comes responsibility to use that freedom. We gathered to make a statement that we were standing up to end the now 5 year old genocide in Darfur. Edward and his twin brother, Edwin, had first hand experience. They are Rwandans that necessarily lived in exile due to the genocide in their homeland of Rwanda. I believe firmly that we must become knowledgeable and engaged in the political process or we will lose our freedoms.

I sent a letter to my Senators Reed, Whitehouse and Representative Patrick Kennedy asking for their endorsements for Barack Obama for President. Here is the one I sent to Senator Sheldon Whitehouse:

Subject: Health of our Country and Darfur

Dear Senator Whitehouse,

I am writing to you on behalf of my heart and genuine love for our people and the people around the world. I am a grass roots Darfur ~ Stop and Prevent Genocide ~ activist with the Save Darfur Coalition. I organized the Rhode Island state Torch Relay in regards to China and Darfur. I am sure you know about China's role in the genocide of the Darfur people. Omar al-Bashir has been jerking "our" chain and plays games with us especially about getting the UN Peacekeepers in place as agreed upon July 31, 2007.

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Our Rhode Island Dream for Darfur Torch Relay in Providence, October 27, 2007

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I have lobbied you in person regarding Darfur in your Providence office on May 29, 2007 with constituents, including several high school students and the past executive director of STAND, as well as Frank Caprio, RI General Treasurer.

A separate reason for writing is that I am a proud and strong supporter of Barack Obama for President. I volunteer for his campaign, including a week in New Hampshire, running up to their Primary. I have never in my 59 years done anything like this before. I can tell you that the 18 and 22 year olds that were organizing all of our canvassing were committed, hard workers and made me extremely proud and humble. I will never vote for Hillary, which leaves me somewhat afraid.

Would you please consider endorsing, very publicly, Barack Obama? This would be in my humble opinion a very genuine and good message to our nation and the world, that We Do Want to Be Unified and NOT the divided United States of America. Time is of the essence.

Thank you for your kind consideration.

I admire you for what you have done in the past regarding Darfur, however we need to get the helicopters in Darfur immediately for the UN Peacekeepers. What has been going on recently in Darfur is extremely troubling and going on under the media radar.

Thank you for your continued support regarding Darfur and our humanity.

LINKS ABOUT CURRENT DARFUR NEWS:
http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnMCD640425.html
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/01/23/darfur.hijackings.ap/
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/opinion/27sun2.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=
http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN734520.html

Sandra Hammel
Rhode Island
Female
White
Grew up in a Republican, Bible-belt family in Indiana
Turns out I am a Democrat
B.S. and M.M.
Retired Teacher and Human Rights Activist

GENOCIDE STOPS WITH US - LET'S MAKE IT PAST HISTORY

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CHINA PLEASE: Bring the Olympic Dream to Darfur. The 2008 Olympic theme is ONE WORLD, ONE DREAM. www.dreamfordarfur.org
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead

www.savedarfur.org
I post all of my Darfur events on this website. Click on "Darfur Events Center" on right hand side of Home Page, Type in zip code 02840.
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This is a reminder of how to behave. This is Barack Obama's speech after he conceded to Hillary Clinton who got 2% more of the votes from New Hampshire. However, know that Hillary and Barack received equal number of delegates. I was there this night. I am so glad that I was.

Hillary didn't even meet together with her volunteers in South Carolina after she conceded to Barack on the telephone. Volunteers work very, very hard on the candidates' behalf. Volunteers go door-to-door and meet with all variations of welcome or unwelcome. And it is good manners for the candidate to meet with the volunteers at the end of the time in the state after the primary or caucus.

Please, notice how Barack handled this very same situation in the Youtube above, leading by example.
Barack Obama's New Hampshire YES WE CAN speech.

"There has never been anything false about hope.
...When we're told that we're not ready....that we shouldn't try or that we can't....Yes. We. Can. ...a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation, Yes, we can......Yes, we can to justice and equality....Yes, we can to opportunity and prosperity, Yes we can heal this nation, Yes, We can repair this world...Yes, We Can...We will remember that something is happening in America, that we are not as divided as our politics suggest, that we are one people, we are one
nation and together we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words, from coast to coast, from sea to shining sea. Yes. We. Can." Barack Obama, January 8, 2008 in Nashua High School gym, New Hampshire