Stephanie Tubbs Jones: “I rise tonight, Madam Speaker, during this message hour to pause to address an ongoing crisis in Darfur. For many years…”

“I rise tonight, Madam Speaker, during this message hour to pause to address an ongoing crisis in Darfur. For many years now we have seen the devastating atrocities taking place in the Darfur region of Sudan. With the support of the Sudanese Government, the janjaweed militia has ravaged the people of Darfur, raping, torturing, murdering and forcing hundreds of thousands of Darfuris to flee to refugee camps in neighboring Chad and the Central African Republic. We saw the same devastation in Rwanda over a decade ago; and the American people have made their voices heard on this issue, vowing never again to remain silent when humanity is threatened. The Congressional Black Caucus has been a leader on this issue. I, along with many of my Congressional Black Caucus colleagues, were some of the first Members of Congress to speak out about this issue. We have been to the Sudanese embassy to protest. Many were arrested. We have visited the region numerous times and we have repeatedly addressed this issue with President George Bush in meetings, asking him to take immediate action. Yet, once again, we come to the House floor to challenge this administration to take a stand in Darfur.”