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| June 14, 2008 |
Nicholas Kristof-the Spirit of Anne Frank Awards
Last evening I had the great honor of presenting the Spirit of Anne Frank Award award to Nicholas Kristof. I tried to find words that could be worthy of this remarkable man. Here is what I said:It is absolutely fitting that I first met Nicholas Kristof on an airstrip in eastern Chad , at a time in 2006 when Darfur's Janjaweed had crossed the border to incinerate 60 Chadian villages.
Since 2004, when he began to write about Darfur, Nick has traveled to this anguished region numerous times. His pieces have sounded a moral clarion call that summoned to action advocates across the world -he made it very difficult for the rest of us to turn away. The mantra of my family is 'with knowledge comes responsibility". Nick is responsible for leading me to a deeper level of 'knowing', a catalyst for a journey that has changed my life.
Just last month, as I was leaving for the Central African Republic Nick emailed-
"Be safe in CAR, Mia. If I ever have to write your obituary, I'll kill you!"
Nearly 60 years ago, Anne Frank imprinted her own beautiful face on the horror that is genocide. With his sensitivity and in the most poignant and straight-shooting prose, over and over again Nick has put a face on injustice, on immeasurable suffering, and on the Darfur genocide. He will not permit atrocities to unfold out of sight and beneath the media radar. Nick Kristof was one of the first to publicly insist that the words Never Again mean something for the people of Darfur. For his courage and his conviction in telling tell searing truths, he is the voice of our collective conscience, demanding we bear witness to the first genocide of the 21st century and encouraging us not to sit by while innocents die.
Every once in a great while a moral giant appears among us. Nicholas Kristof is that person.