RUTHFULLY YOURS

Former Sudanese Slave Walks with American Flag from New York City to Washington, D.C. to Seek Meeting with President Obama

Posted By Ruth King on October 4th, 2010

Sudan Freedom Walk

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Simon Deng (917) 698-5440

In Torrential Rains, Former Sudanese Slave Walks with American Flag from New York City to Washington, D.C. to Seek Meeting with President Obama

Calls on U.S. President to Address Slavery and Human Rights Abuses of Sudanese Christians

For immediate release

Washington, October 3, 2010  — Human rights leader Simon Deng, a former slave of Islam in Sudan, has walked from New York and is soon to arrive in Washington, D.C., with the goal of asking President Obama for a face-to-face meeting regarding the continuing slavery and genocide of Christians in Sudan.  The walk has taken place during the past two weeks, much of it in driving rains and high wind conditions.

Deng, a member of the Shilluk tribe from Southern Sudan, is a Christian, and was persecuted during the Civil War era between the Muslims and Christians in Sudan. He was taken as a youth and enslaved by Northern Arab Sudanese during the conflict.  Having the fortitude to escape, Simon eventually became the national long-distance swimming champion in Sudan and immigrated to the United States in 1990.

Despite the great personal anguish of reliving the horrors of his childhood, Simon began telling his personal story in 1998, after reading an article in the New York Times about slaves still being bought and sold in Sudan for $10.   In the spring of 2006, Simon partnered with recently deceased basketball star and Sudanese icon Manute Bol as well as New York-based activist David Bredhoff to create and lead the first Sudan Freedom Walk from New York City to Washington, D.C.  The Freedom Walk achieved the passage of the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act of 2005 and garnered the participation of major political forces such as President George W. Bush as well as Senators Hillary Clinton, Sam Brownback, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Representatives Barbara Lee, Joseph Crowley, Betty McCollum, Chris Van Hollen, and former Washington, D.C. Mayor Reverend Walter Fauntroy.

Pursuant to the 2004 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, Southern Sudan will vote in a referendum in January 2011 to decide whether or not to secede from the North.  With this imminent critical juncture in mind, and the necessity of ensuring compliance to the 2004 agreement for peace to remain in Sudan, Simon knew he had to do something again.  His old partner David Bredhoff, having returned from the Peace Corps in Mozambique proposed replicating the first walk, and doing so in coordination with a Darfuri-led organization to demonstrate a symbolic unity between Southern Sudanese and Darfuri refugees in their fight for justice in their homeland.  The deeply committed, Philadelphia-based Darfur Human Rights Organization of the USA (DHRO) provided a perfect partner for Simon and David.  DHRO is led by distinguished Darfuri leader Dr. Abdel Gabar Adam, who walked over 100 miles in the first freedom walk and galvanized Sudanese support along the East Coast.

The focus of The Sudan Freedom Walk 2010 is to fight for democracy and freedom from genocide and slavery throughout Sudan.

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