January 14th, 2008 - Nikki Serapio  Permalink  View & Add Comments

Thank You, Congressman Lantos

If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, you probably heard earlier this month that Congressman Tom Lantos (CA-12) has been diagnosed with cancer and is retiring from Congress.

The AADG team is very sad to hear this news. We send our heartfelt thanks to Congressman Lantos for his public service.

A Holocaust survivor, Rep. Lantos has led Congress in standing up for the people of Darfur. He has spoken out in the media, he has spoken out via substantive Darfur-related legislation, and he has spoken out in protest. Where others have sold false promises about helping Darfur, Congressman Lantos has actually helped the people of Western Sudan. Which is to say — there’s no doubt the Sudanese government would have gotten away with even more, with the murders of hundreds of thousands of additional Darfuri lives if not for the Congressional statements, the Op-Eds, the legislation … the outright moral outcry generated by champions like Rep. Lantos.

Thank you, Congressman, for all that you do and have done for the people of Darfur. And thank you, too, to Congressman Lantos’ staffers — including Dr. Pearl-Alice Marsh, Hans Hogrefe, and Margery Farrar — for your earnest, constant work on behalf of the people of Darfur.

Here’s a video of Congressman Lantos speaking at a January 2007 rally at the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, DC (AADG helped organize this event):

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skGo5CPSUZ8[/youtube]