Five members of Congress arrested for protesting at Sudanese embassy...

[NorthernSpy]

Sudan kicked the aid workers out of Darfur, and five US Congressional Representatives have now been arrested in a protest at the Sudanese embassy.

Three are members of the Congressional Black Caucus.


Arrested:

John Lewis, D-GA (CBC)
James McGovern D-MA
Donna Edwards D-MD (CBC)
Lynn Woolsey D-CA
Keith Ellison D-MN (CBC)


Bless them!

After a brief series of speeches in front of the Sudanese embassy, the Massachusetts Democrat and four other members of Congress stood quietly and refused to move to the other side of yellow police tape -- a deliberate act they knew would get them arrested. After giving the small group of demonstrators three chances to move, police approached the lawmakers and activists and bound their wrists loosely behind their backs with plastic restraints.

The protestors were taken to a police station in northwest Washington, where they were expected to be fined $100 and released within a few hours.

McGovern -- forgoing a tie and belt, which would have been confiscated before his lock-up -- noted that he had been arrested three years ago for demonstrating for action in Darfur, where millions have died from sectarian violence and where the State Department has declared a genocide is underway.

"I don't want to be here in 2012, calling on the Sudanese government to stop the killing,'' McGovern said. "We need to care. We nee to act. Every life is of equal value.''

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2009/04/mcgovern_other.html

[Number23]

1. Bless them, indeed!

And not a Republican in sight. I'm absolutely SHOCKED, I tell you. :eyes:

If the U.S. has decided that it wants to be the "conscience of the world" that means we are going to have to start putting pressure on some of these African regimes. When you even stop to think about the immeasurable number of lives and resources that have been lost, it is almost too much to bear.