Press Release June 17, 2006
DAY 36 OF ROUND-THE-CLOCK DARFUR VIGIL AT WHITE HOUSE
White House President’s Park, Washington, DC. 25 days ago a businessman from Philadelphia began a round the clock vigil to rescue and restore Darfur from the Genocide that has raged for the last 3 years in Western Sudan. “Even when I was a well to do self centered child I knew that humanity should have stopped the Holocaust, no excuses, whatever it took. Well, now it is happening on my watch, and I want to do everything in my power to help spark the miracle of Darfur’s Rescue and Restoration.”
McGinley maintains that we can stop this Genocide now, without question. He asserts that this is a petty land grab by bullies and if we put the 20,000 Chapter 7 UN Peace Keepers called for on the ground not a shot need be fired and 2,000,000 lives can be restored. “That is worth my life right now. I am here for as many months as I can hold out to encourage our leaders and my countrymen to get the 20,000 on the ground, NOW.”
Darfur, a state the size of Texas in western Sudan populated with native African farmers, has been victimized by its Arab government in Khartoum who wants the land for Arabs for grazing. To grab the land the government’s Janjaweed (Devils on Horseback) militia has destroyed 70% of the Darfur villages, slaughtered 300,000 residents, gang raped 1000’s of women, incinerated countless children alive, and forced the remaining 2,000,000 inhabitants into desert camps where the murder and rape by the Sudan militia continues, along with forced starvation and disease. 2,000 per week are dying. The UN has called it the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Until May 14th Jay McGinley, 55, ran an elite furniture store in a northern suburb of Philadelphia, and prior to that was a computer industry executive. “The April 30th 2006 Rally for Darfur at the US Capitol with 30,000 of us from around the country including congressmen and celebrities showed me that Rescue and Restoration was coming within reach.”
However, this country has never stopped a Genocide, ever. Harvard’s Samantha Power’s Pulitzer Prize winning Genocide study of the last 100 years presents a clear conclusion. “THE BATTLE TO STOP GENOCIDED HAS THUS BEEN REPEATEDLY LOST… [BECAUSE] AMERICANS OUTSIDE THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH WERE LARGELY MUTE…” Jay says, “I am not going to be mute, and by this round the clock vigil at the White House I will try to encourage my countrymen, and our elected leaders, that now is the time to find the time and courage to CRY OUT to stop this Genocide and to restore the people of Darfur to their lives. We need to do whatever it takes to make crystal clear to our leaders that, WE WANT YOU TO STOP THE GENOCIDE NOW, AND WE ARE BEHIND YOU ON THIS 100%.”
But in McGinley’s view, there is more involved. “Frankly, although 2,000,000 Darfuri lives are enough justification, I think more than that is at stake. I think that what we stand for as a US people is at stake – JUSTICE, FAIRNESS, PROTECTION OF THE WEAK. We MUST unleash our humanity to rescue and restore Darfur now. This can be our shameful failure, or our finest hour. Let’s make it our finest hour.”
Contact: Jay McGinley, 484 356 6243, restoredarfur@cs.com
Blog: www.standwithdarfurwhitehouse.blogspot.com
