Slavery in the 21st Century

Attended a lecture by Francis Bok on Feb. 22 at St. Edward's University. Mr. Bok was enslaved as a 7 year old boy and sold to a Muslim man in the northern part of the Sudan. He's from the tumultuous region of Darfur, and witnessed first hand the genocide executed upon the Christians who live there.

Though the lecture strongly appealed to my pathos -- Mr. Bok's stories made you want to weep for his stolen childhood and for the children still enslaved -- I didn't really find any proposed ways for us here in America to help until the final five minutes of his speech. In his conclusion, he praised the efforts of the Bush Administration and their work to help relieve the suffering of the Sudanese people, and he chastised the United Nations for sitting back and not taking action though they have known of these human rights violations on a mass scale since the early to mid-eighties.

Finally! Something I can respond to! Yes, I agree that the United Nations is more of a feel good sugar pill than any sort of remedy. They have a hard enough time throwing a birthday party, and unless everyone's mostly in some sort of agreement then nothing gets done. Then, even if representatives agree to lend their support, the UN's "strongly worded memos/suggestions" have all the efficacy of toilet paper to the dictators and despots they address.

Get with it United Nations! Stop electing random figureheads that look pretty and then use their influence for shame (*cough*Kofi*cough*) and start doing things. Start talking and acting on things that matter. Work for world peace. Make a beauty pageant speech, then get back to work. I like the idea of an multinational forum as much as the next idealist international relations major, but stop disappointing me. You've had sixty years to get your act together and I have only had 18. Get with it.