Scripps College on Start Loving Sudan Embassy

Scripps

Discussion and Conclusion
By Sheila Jamshidpoor, Caroline Almy and Alison Cantor
Group Two: Darfur

This "paper" concludes:

Today, 55-year-old Start Loving, “former business executive known to his friends and family as Jay McGinley,” has taken residence on the sidewalk outside of the Sudanese Embassy and has been there for the past 46 days (Schrank). Loving has decided to give all that he has, in the most literal sense, to draw attention to Darfur and cry out to society’s collective conscience. “Bearded, sunburned and dirty from weeks on the street, he could be another homeless wretch -- except that hanging like wings off his shoulders are two giant laminated orange placards that read ‘Darfur Hunger Strike March 1’,” (Schrank). He is sustaining himself on nothing but a couple hundred calories a day to protest the world’s inaction. Loving estimates he has lost around 30 pounds, but continues to follow a path already made by “Gandhi, the King, and Jesus” (Schrank). “I'm here because my brothers and sisters are being killed. It's not my responsibility what others do. It's only my responsibility what I do. I can do nothing less in the face of this atrocity,” says Loving. “I wish I had thousands of lives to give. But I have mine and this is how I choose to spend it.”
Imagine if everyone was as passionate about the rising death toll coming from the other side of the world. If everyone believed in Loving’s mantra and name “Start Loving” it wouldn’t be surprising if the genocide in Darfur was the last. Organizations like the Save Darfur Coalition, STAND, and the Genocide Prevention Network have not gone unnoticed by the United Nations and other political powers, or even by the Sudanese government. It is through the continued growth of organizations like these, and the awareness of the world population, that we can begin to hope for peace and a re-emergence of humanity in both Darfur and the entire international community.


Bibliography
Cooper, Helene. "Darfur Collides With Olympics, and China Yields." New York Times 13 Apr 2007

Lederer, Edith M. "Sudan Accepts U.N. Force in Darfur." The Associated Press 16 Apr. 2007. 16 Apr. 2007 .

Markusen, Eric &Totten, Samuel (Eds.). (2006). Genocide in Darfur: Investigating the Atrocities in the Sudan. New York: Routledge.

Schrank, Delphine. "A Hunger for Justice." Washington Post 14 Apr. 2007. 16 Apr. 2007 .

Totten, Samuel, & Markusen, Eric (Eds.). (2006). Genocide in Darfur: Investigating the Atrocities in the Sudan. New York: Routledge.