Guest Voices: Darfur Still Needs Saving - On Faith at washingtonpost.com

Darfur Still Needs Saving

For anti-genocide activists whose activism is fueled by our faith, this is a season to reflect on our commitment to "save Darfur" and reignite our faith that our collective efforts will lead to peace and security in Sudan.

Reigniting that faith could be a tall order. Six years into the tragedy, Darfur continues to fester with ongoing killing, rape, destruction and displacement in a nation at war with itself. Sudan is a complex and, tragically, chronic crisis. It is in the face of such complexities that we must summon our most fervent belief that even situations as severely fractured as Sudan can be made whole.

Our faith is not blind, however. Our confidence in the power of persistent faith is inspired by stories from our sacred texts and informed by accounts in our history books.

The New Testament gospel writer, Luke, recounts the parable of the persistent widow who seeks justice from the unrighteous judge. She declares victory when the unrelenting tenacity of the grassroots woman activist eventually wears down the uncaring judge. The passage ends with a rhetorical question. If the insensitive judge eventually responds by doing the right thing, won't the God who is righteous and caring, respond to our advocacy by doing likewise?

The Hebrew Bible is also replete with accounts of activists whose persevering faith led to justice despite oppressive leaders and overwhelming odds. What if Moses had abandoned hope in the face of the hard-hearted Pharaoh? What if Queen Esther, seized with fear, indecision or indifference, failed to petition the king--thereby enabling the extermination of her people?

The power of activism energized by faith is also reflected in the subsequent success of contemporary social movements.

Gandhi devoted thirty years to the arduous struggle for Indian independence. Throughout the years of arrests and imprisonments, he found inspiration in the Hindu Bhagavad-Gita for the movement that would eventually shake India and the British Empire. "When disappointment stares me in the face and all alone I see not one ray of light, I go back to the Bhagavad-Gita. I find a verse here and a verse there, and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming tragedies...."

From the early days of the movement, Gandhi collaborated with Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, a devout Muslim. Khan recruited over 100,000 "Red Shirts" and armed these nonviolent activists with "the weapon of the Prophet--patience and righteousness." Khan declared, "No power on earth can stand against it."

Throughout their struggle, Gandhi and Khan embodied the confidence that determined faith coupled with decisive action will tip the scales of justice in favor of the oppressed--sometimes quickly, but more often slowly, painfully slowly.

The same indefatigable faith sustained Nelson Mandela and his fellow freedom fighters through four decades of warfare against legalized racism before the walls of apartheid collapsed and came tumbling down.

Such faith enabled civil rights workers in America to hold fast to the vision of the Hebrew prophet, Amos, for a day when "justice [would] roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream." Activists could only imagine the immense changes wrought in America because of their sacrifices--changes that resulted in the election of the first African American president fifty years later.

February 2009 will usher in Darfur's seventh year of genocide. In the Jewish tradition, the seventh year is the year of jubilee when captives are set free and land is returned to its original owner. We are wise enough to know that the battle to end genocide follows no set timetable; but we are "faith-fueled" enough to believe that jubilee for Darfur and all victims of genocide is well on its way. We resonate to a tune sung by slaves in the 19th century, with words sung by freedom fighters in the 20th century, as we declare at the onset of the 21st century:

"Ain't gonna let nobody turn me around...
I'm gonna keep on a walkin', keep on a talkin', walkin' up the freedom trail."

Rev. Gloria E. White-Hammond, M.D. has been the Co-Pastor of Bethel AME Church in Boston since 1997 and a pediatrician at the South End Community Health Center since 1981, where she recently retired after 26 years. She is the board chairwoman of the Save Darfur Coalition and the co-founder of My Sister's Keeper, a humanitarian women's group that partners with Sudanese women in their efforts toward reconciliation and reconstruction of their communities.

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Darfur Still Needs Saving