We are lucky to live in our close-knit, “Mainers take care of Mainers” communities. I am reminded of this on a daily basis. Despite occasional unsettling stories of crime and tragedy, positives prevail here. This can make it easy to overlook the world’s ugliness, that side of humanity that I never saw growing up in a small Piscataquis County town of 300 people.

In 2003, the first genocide of the 21st century began in Western Sudan in a place called Darfur. An Arab militia called the Janjaweed, aided by the Sudanese government, began what can only be looked at as a campaign of terror and genocide. The victims of this genocide are mainly non-Arab or African tribal groups, primarily the Fur, Massaleit, and Zaghawa.

The ethnic cleansing by the Janjaweed sounds more like a fictional horror movie than a reality that continues to plague Darfur and other parts of Africa. The militia groups have killed civilians, burned villages, raped women and young girls, abducted children, poisoned water supplies and destroyed food sources. In 2005, an estimated 15,000 people were being killed every month. Since 2003, when the killing began, an estimated 400,000 people have perished. More than one million people have been forced from their villages and homes to refugee camps in other parts of Africa.

The U.S. government officially declared the crisis in Darfur a genocide in July of 2004. Since 2005, both the U.S. House and Senate have had opportunities to support several important pieces of legislation that would help to end the genocide. The first piece that was introduced, a bill called the Darfur Genocide Accountability Act, did not pass. However, that initial bill sent a powerful message that action from every level of government was needed in order to support an end to the tragedies taking place in Africa.

A few months later, a bill did pass called the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act. The powerful message and precedent was then made clear when this bill passed in the House with a vote of 416-3 and in the Senate with unanimous consent. This bill imposed sanctions against officials identified as supporters of the genocide, and urged denial to U.S. port entries for ships that were transporting oil from Sudan.

Since then, there have been several bills proposed, some of which have passed and some of which have not. The message however is consistent – in order for change, support of the U.S. government is absolutely necessary in Darfur. As a leading world power, a nation built upon principles of social justice and accountability, we must be a leader and voice of reason and hope in this terrible crisis.

By urging our Congress to support Darfur legislation, we are taking important steps to lessen human suffering. Senators and representatives can be lobbied in person, through letters, e-mails, or phone calls. The most effective way to end this suffering will be through our own action and commitment to end this crisis.

I know that we are not apathetic Mainers, and that human suffering touches us if we are willing to acknowledge it. Looking away from a television screen or newspaper article because we do not want to believe these horrors are happening is not going to make them end.

This isn’t just something that is happening worlds away from our communities in northern and eastern Maine and merely being brought into our lives through occasional stories on our nightly world news. This is a human issue affecting human beings.

Please, when you are touched by the holiday spirit this year, consider taking action, donating money, and contributing to a movement to end the suffering and destruction of human dignity and human rights in Darfur and other regions of the world.

Web sites such as www.savedarfur.org, www.genocideintervention.net, www.africaaction.org and www.icrc.org provide groundwork and basic information on how we can create and promote positive change against this genocide and other human atrocities worldwide. It is our choice to either stay silent or take action through media coverage, government support, financial contributions and activism. Let’s choose action.

Hillary Roberts of Atkinson works at the American Red Cross in Bangor.