To my fellow Americans today

the most pressing issue we must face is consistency in human rights.

We must face the injustice, violence, oppression, and genocide in Darfur and Sudan

that stands as the benchmark for consistency for the world on the issue of human rights.

Some of us say Never Again to genocide, but we have seen genocide again, and we must stand up against it.

Not just when it is popular or convenient, or what some people call strategic, but when it is the right thing, the moral thing to do.

That is why the issue of consistency in human rights in Darfur and Sudan is so important, so vital for the American people and the world.

Our response there is a measurement of just HOW SERIOUS we are about being responsible for human rights.

We gain no major national security advantage, no major economic advantage, no major geopolitical advantage for actively standing up and being consistent on human rights in Darfur and Sudan, like our nation has and will continue to actively stand up in other parts of the world.

In Darfur and Sudan, the issues are simply are our moral integrity as human beings responsible for human rights.

It is not a special interest, it is a human interest, and our stand is an indication of whether we truly believe in the truths that we hold self evident

Some are pessimistic about the West and the United States taking such a principled stand on human rights, not dependent on “what we get out of it.”  They believe that the West and the United States can not be taken serious on such human rights principles.   Some believe Americans will only act on human rights when it is in our strategic interests.

I will tell you that I know different.

I will tell you that I have seen different in my own life, and with my own eyes.

In my own life, I have seen in American cities where races were forced to live in separate housing, eat in separate restaurants, and only go to certain schools and neighborhoods change.

America’s greatest human rights challenge was the challenge of racial supremacism within our own borders, based on horrors of slavery that was the great shame of a great nation.

That human rights challenge nearly destroyed America.

In fact, for a time that human rights challenge split America apart into a United States and a Confederate States.

But I know America, and I know the American spirit. The United States of America proved then that it could and must be consistent on human rights, not just when it is in our interests, but also simply when it is our responsibility – not just as Americans, but also as human beings.  We must remember the lessons of our history that define our identity, when we look at the challenges in Darfur and Sudan.

I know the American spirit of justice and respect for human rights still burns in many many hearts across this great nation.  It is defended by many who walk the streets of our nation’s capital.  It is still inherent in the very Declaration that defines what it means to be American.  I know the American people can reach for that principled stand once again.

I know that the people in America can demand that our nation and our nation’s leaders finally take a consistent stand on human rights in Darfur and Sudan and ACT to end the oppression, ACT to end the violence, and ACT to end the injustice.  We must call upon the American people to ACT and not just say high-sounding ideals, but DEMAND that our national leaders finally determine that YES, we CAN be consistent on human rights in Darfur and Sudan, yes we CAN do something about it.

Some wonder when I call my group Responsible for Equality and Liberty – what that really means

it means the commitment that we have made not just as Americans…

but also as human beings to be CONSISTENT on the issues of equality and liberty –

for ALL PEOPLE-

EVERYWHERE –

in the World with their universal human rights –

Not just when it is convenient –

Not just when it is strategic –

But just because it is the right thing to do.

It is the responsible thing to do as a fellow human being.