On behalf of the Chicago Chapter of the United Nations Association of the USA, I want to thank you all for coming out today to show your support for Peace in Darfur. This event was the dream of two fantastic women and I want to thank Roxxy Cooley of Chicago Public Schools Global Classrooms Program and Claudia Jaccarino, Vice President for Communications for our Chicago Chapter for their vision and commitment to this effort.

We have been fortunate today to hear from three terrific speakers: Mr. Dana Starks, Chairman and Commissioner of the City of Chicago's Commission on Human Relations, Mr. Hayelom Ayele, who is the Director/Community Liaison for the Human Relations Advisory Council on Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, and Mr. Mohamed Abdelrhman, who brought us greetings from Darfur.

You know, all of us here are privileged to live in a society where the rule of law is honored and strengthened by regular elections, and in this historic election year, we Americans are living the promise of our democracy by peacefully using the rule of law to solve our disagreement about the direction our country needs to take to face the challenges of the 21st Century. One of the toughest challenges we must confront is complacency in the face of inhumanity. We must challenge ourselves to stand up for peace, stand up for justice, and stand up for victims of violence in our communities and in the greater global community.

You are about to march today for the victims of genocide in Darfur and I salute you. Now I challenge you to be the peaceful one in your family and live peacefully in your neighborhood but fight for peace and justice - using the rule of law! Support groups like the United Nations and so many others which exist to bring us together to make positive changes happen in our world. You must be the change you seek for the world so that we can all live a more peaceful and more just existence