Covenant News

State Senator Urges Divestment from Sudan

CHICAGO, IL (April 11, 2005) - A former Emmy award-winning journalist turned Illinois state legislator told North Park students recently that spiritual journey led her to push for a state-wide ban on investing in war-torn Sudan.

In her March 31 remarks at North Park Theological Seminary, state Sen. Jackie Collins, of Chicago, said that businesses that invest in Sudan provide revenue for the Khartoum government to commit what United States politicians have called genocide.

Collins's legislation is based on laws that mandated divestiture from South Africa. Companies providing food, medication and other humanitarian aid would be exempted. She noted that the bill has received bipartisan support and was crafted with an initially skeptical state treasurer.

 "It's important because the money we provide is channeled as revenue for the Khartoum government to invest money in the war paraphernalia they use to bomb, pillage and destroy the villages of the people living in the Darfur area," she said.

Covenant World Relief has been active in helping to bring relief to Sudanese refugees, many of whom also have had family members forced into slavery.

"More than 2 million people have been displaced," Collins said. "To me it's a tsunami every month with the number of people dying every month in Darfur."

The Clinton Administration instituted sanctions in 1997 preventing companies from doing business in Sudan after attacks on the U.S.S. Cole, and it was determined that Sudan had given assistance to Osama bin Laden.

 "The way companies get around this is by doing business with foreign companies," Collins said.

When she began investigating how much money Illinois had invested in these companies, Collins discovered that combined investments of the State Board of Investment and the Illinois State Teachers' Retirement System amounted to more than $1 billion.

"This was an eye-opener to me. I wasn't even aware how we are invested in the Sudan. I think most people, most investors, if they knew their money was supporting Sudan, I think they would say, 'I don't want my money helping the Sudan government because of the atrocities there.' "

Saying, "I hope each state would use this as a model," Collins encouraged students to have legislators in their states support similar legislation. Information on how much each state has invested in companies doing business with Sudan can be found atwww.divestsudan.org, Collins said.

Collins emphasized that the issue was neither sectarian nor partisan, noting that the Bush administration has taken a lead role in efforts to stop the violence in Sudan.

"Franklin Graham was the first to bring the issue to the Bush administration," Collins said. After he toured the Darfur region, Colin Powell came back and called it genocide." Sam Brownback, R-KS, has taken the lead in the United States Senate to keep the issue visible, she added.

Collins shared with the students her own spiritual journey that led her to deal with Sudan and other policy issues. For 20 years, she was an Emmy-nominated producer for CBS News in Chicago, but decided she needed to do more to help others. She began to ask herself, "Was I truly fulfilling what I think God's dream was for me, the potential and purpose he put in my heart."

She attended Harvard, where she earned a master's degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government and a master's degree in theological studies from Harvard Divinity School in 2003. When she returned from Harvard, her priest encouraged her to run for the state senate, but she was nervous because she preferred "working in the background," Collins said.

"In my prayer time, in the reflection, what the Holy Spirit told me was that God has not given you a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind," Collins said. She encouraged the students not to be afraid to step out in faith to care for others.

"Fear is a distraction, that's someone preventing you from possibly reaching your destiny," she said. "You can never let fear box you in because whenever you are afraid to move out of your comfort zone, you stop growing."

"I think God calls us all to a purpose," Collins said. "I want to be a voice for the voiceless."    

Printable version of this page.