Our last day in DC. We again got up early to head to the Silver Diner for breakfast before the conference, today with a special treat. Yesterday at the conference, I got a chance to talk to Carl Wilkens, one of my heroes, who is a major leader in the anti-genocide movement famous for being the only American to stay in Kigali, Rwanda during the genocide where he was able to shelter hundreds of orphans from the killings. We got to chatting about the national STAND movement, for which he is a new Board member. He agreed to meet us for breakfast to discuss the state to STAND today, from our perspective. It was an honor and a treat to spend an hour talking with him over omelets and pancakes.
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From there, we headed to Day 2 of the conference, again featuring expert panels on Sudan, including an interesting discussion on media coverage, and a talk featuring John Prendergast, head of the Enough Project, and Rich Williamson, former special envoy to Sudan under Pres. Bush. It was clear that national activists have been disappointed with Pres. Obama's lack of engagement on Sudan, and that we made more of a positive difference under Bush, esp. with Williamson. Mukesh Kapila was inspiring in his appeal to the urgency of the problem, and our highlight may have been Carl Wilkens closing speech - a dramatic connection of his experience with the importance of what we are working on with Sudan. As he emphasized, don't underestimate the power of a story.
After lunch, we headed to Capitol Hill for some lobbying. The conference had prepared packets and talking points for us, and joining with a couple members of the Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur, we gave presentations to foreign policy staffers in Rep. Markey's and Sen. Warren's offices, and did drop bys at Rep. Keating's and Rep. Kennedy's offices. It was a great experience and the students learned to be effective advocates - ad libbing to enhance the presentations. We also got some instant results as we received an email from Rep. Markey's office informing us that he joined the Sudan Caucus!
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Because of a flight delay, we had time to visit the Museum of the American Indian, spend a little time at Union Station, then catch a train to the airport. It was a wonderful trip, even if we didn't get home until 1AM!
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From there, we headed to Day 2 of the conference, again featuring expert panels on Sudan, including an interesting discussion on media coverage, and a talk featuring John Prendergast, head of the Enough Project, and Rich Williamson, former special envoy to Sudan under Pres. Bush. It was clear that national activists have been disappointed with Pres. Obama's lack of engagement on Sudan, and that we made more of a positive difference under Bush, esp. with Williamson. Mukesh Kapila was inspiring in his appeal to the urgency of the problem, and our highlight may have been Carl Wilkens closing speech - a dramatic connection of his experience with the importance of what we are working on with Sudan. As he emphasized, don't underestimate the power of a story.
After lunch, we headed to Capitol Hill for some lobbying. The conference had prepared packets and talking points for us, and joining with a couple members of the Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur, we gave presentations to foreign policy staffers in Rep. Markey's and Sen. Warren's offices, and did drop bys at Rep. Keating's and Rep. Kennedy's offices. It was a great experience and the students learned to be effective advocates - ad libbing to enhance the presentations. We also got some instant results as we received an email from Rep. Markey's office informing us that he joined the Sudan Caucus!
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Because of a flight delay, we had time to visit the Museum of the American Indian, spend a little time at Union Station, then catch a train to the airport. It was a wonderful trip, even if we didn't get home until 1AM!
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