Last week, here in my hometown of Milwaukee, children from Hope Christian School completed a 6 mile march in solidarity with those who have suffered and continue to suffer through the Darfur genocide. Perhaps it could be argued that the worst is over in Darfur but the genocide has been allowed to occur with so little resistance from the international community that it calls into question the relevancy of the UN. It is interesting to note that the UN is now being criticized for not protecting the Sudanese capital from a rebel uprising, the same rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) being slaughtered just months and years ago.

The incompetence of the UN can be explained simply in the reality that the international body failed to pass a resolution that would have given the authority to send in peacekeeping troops to protect the refugees. The refugees desperately sought protection from the Janjaweed early in the process of the tragedy at a time when the most lives could have been saved.

Before we deny the culpability of the UN in Darfur, let us not forget the children in Darfur and the children in solidarity with them here. These children do not understand the evil of turning a blind eye to this tragedy. The fact that as politicians and adults we have learned to understand such tragedies is perhaps the greatest sadness of the Darfur conflict. To live in a political climate that makes the tragedies that will now surely follow not a question but rather a looming reality is disgusting.

Political realities of the global elite stand in the way of what needs to be done in the United Nations. Chinese political interests in Sudan (namely a buyer of Sudanese oil) as well as the Russian double standard of Chechnya isolation and the United States loss of creditability due to lack of WMD in Iraq hindered the three powerful countries ability to act with any authority in the UN security counsel.

The UN must be accountable to the world population otherwise it is useless.

The elephant in the room in Darfur is the differing interests of the US and China, perhaps the latest control case of the mounting tension between the reigning superpower and the rising superpower, and yet in Milwaukee last night it was much more simple, perhaps how it was meant to be. The children walked for miles and miles and raised over 700 dollars to donate to savedarfur.org. I long for the days that I failed to understand how these tragedies unfold, how they are justified in the minds and quarters of the world’s elite. And perhaps that is the crux, to understand is to justify, it is much simpler, you see your fellow man suffering, you have the power to stop it, and you do so.

The struggle for bringing light to the genocide in Darfur in this country is not effective just yet, but in the context of atrocities to come it is significant in laying groundwork for the battles ahead.

So finally tonight the children who walked have moved on with the hope of a bright summer day in the center of the promise of the American Dream and yet we fail time and time again to stop the nightmares of the world’s poor suffering and hopeless on the edges of the world’s conscience

My hope is that the efforts of the Hope Christian School’s students will not simply be remembered as an eerie trumpet call over a lost battlefield but rather an important step towards curbing the future global atrocities.