 It has a massive salmon there and they kind of all kind of all kind of say services don't even know the condition of our family. Several cities have these out of them. They say this is a surprise. It's a surprise. They say the delay was the bus. The delay was the bus. They went down. The girl freed or whatever it was. Down the way down. Down the sidewalk. Up past Walgreens. Down the sidewalk. Okay. Showing up. Showing up to support my family, my friends, my T-grade community and the diaspora of T-grade people throughout the world. And most particularly the people living in T-grade who are facing a genocide. And you all here today is incredible. Leahy, Sanders and Welch have all taken a public stand on the atrocities in T-grade. Personally thank them for this. It makes a huge difference to the morale of solidarity in a world where even 25 years later I still think of England every day. I can't begin to imagine what it's like to be here in the United States. Knowing that my people, my homeland is being eradicated by the government of the country that I'm from. I believe Senator Leahy was the first senator in the United States. And he did that as government officials in Addis and in Asmara. In fact he said there are reports that the situation in T-grade could be worse than in Darfur. The ship again with Leahy's office in November he released another statement. He said rather than squander the country's scarce resources on a fruit like T-grade by fault, he would be well advised to listen to the international community be well advised to listen to the international community and support a diplomatic solution. The alternative is famine, displacement and unending misery for the people of T-grade and for this Nobel Peace Prize winner to be held accountable for crimes against humanity. It's horrific. Over two million people are displaced. That's one third of all Tigranians. In June when the Tigran resistance drove out the occupying soldiers, Abbey imposed a comprehensive and unlawful blockade. Food and medicine cannot get in. Information about the starvation cannot get out. The banks are closed, salaries aren't paid, 90% of hospitals and clinics have been destroyed, agriculture has been demolished, cattle and livestock has been destroyed and humanitarian agencies don't have money to operate. The UN estimates that 120 truckloads of food are required every day to feed 5 million people in need including at least 900,000 suffering famines. About 13% of those trucks have actually been allowed through. Friends, children are wasting away. Generations are being killed by a man-made famine. 4 out of 5 fragments of nursing mothers are acutely malnourished. Nurses are fainting of hunger on the door. A comprehensive news blackout has been imposed to bulb images and information from the seafing out. But the truth is inescapable. A genocide is being committed. Tigranians are now being rounded up in Addis Ababa and held in concentration camps around the capital. If you are from Tigray, you are no longer safe wherever you live in Ethiopia. The plan of the government is simple. It is to wipe out the people. And as a Jew, I know all about that. It is horrifying to watch this happen before my eyes and to feel so powerless to do anything about it. However, I do believe that we can do something about it. We are here today, right now, raising close awareness and protesting. What a privilege that is. And I want to say this. If we really believe that black and brown lives matter, if we really believe that, then all black and brown lives matter. The people of Tigray matter. And we have to do better. Things change when we get involved. Lehi's two statements came out of our dialogue with his office in D.C. Abby and I have been meeting with Senator Sandra Spurf and Congressman Welsh as well. We will be having statements from both of them shortly. I urge you to leave this rally today determined to make a difference for the people of Tigray. Please write to your delegates. Please urge them to push for food aid and medicine to be air-dropped in Tigray. Please urge them to continue to push the president for action. Sanctions are crucial, but people are dying today and they need food. The Clinton administration regretted standing by and not doing enough when the ruined and genocide was taking place. Let's not do that to the people of Tigray. Thank you for coming. I'm going to call on Senator Kesha Raim to come and say a few words. That's right. I want to start by thanking Allison Segar. I just finished saying, you know, to the news down the road that so often we're able to ignore atrocities. We're able to ignore genocide and murder if we don't somehow feel personally connected to it. And I'm sorry, I'm sorry that's the reality and I'm sorry you feel left behind by leaders and by our government. It's wrong and I am sorry. And it's so important that we have remanters here today who are saying this does affect us. This doesn't matter. People trying to get money and resources into the region, trying to save lives. And as Allison said, so often we have looked away particularly when it comes to the continent of Africa. Our foreign policy has not fully acknowledged that black lives matter. We have been able to reduce the priority of human rights and genocide when it comes to what's happening in the African continent and particularly into gray. And I am sorry. We have said never again and yet we have let it happen. I saw a sign that said what would you do if you couldn't speak to your family for over 300 days and you didn't know if they were alive. And that is an incredibly painful and heartbreaking reality that you're facing. So many of us don't know what we would do in that situation but we can stand here and march with you and say that is not okay and the U.S. government needs to do more. Thank you. I am Senator Keisha Rumhinsdale. I want to welcome many of you to Vermont. Thank you for being here. Thank you for raising awareness here. We will be working with our federal delegation to address the urgency of this genocide, to address the urgency of the situation. We cannot wait and see. We cannot wait and see. Thank you very much for being here. Thank you. Organizing this with us and thank you Senator Keisha Rumhinsdale for coming and for the great work. My name is Abhi but I am not that Abhi. I am older too. His name is not Abhi actually. It's something else that he changed too. He's not so funny. But just to today Dear Tagaru brothers and sisters from Boston welcome to Burlington. You came to Burlington in June and we had a great rally. That was good. It resulted with great statements from Senator Leahy and others. To our Vermont friends and fellow Vermonters thank you for coming out today to support Tigray and Tigrayans and to say stop the genocide in Tigray and to say stop using starvation and rape as weapons of war and to say stop sending innocent Tigrayans to concentration camps which is happening as we speak. Tigrayans are not asking for much. We are asking just for access to humanitarian services including food, clean water and medicine. And we are asking for simple things basic things of telecommunication banking and of course the chance to self-determination and serve rule. That's all we are asking. We're not asking for much. Not to keep you long in this cold weather I'm going to read a statement from Congressman Peter Warch who could not join us today and he says and we just opened it a statement from Congressman Peter Warch for Burlington Rally for Tigrayans and Friends of Tigrayans on Saturday December the 4th 2021 and he says thank you for gathering today I am sorry I could not be with you in person my heart goes out to those of you who have friends and families in Tigray who wake up each morning wondering if their loved ones are safe I join you in condemning the human rights abuses and atrocities being perpetrated on the people of Tigray basic services like electricity, banking, internet telephone have been cut off soldiers have attacked civilians and looted homes medical facilities have been targeted and destroyed genocidal acts ethnic cleansing and widespread sexual and gender based violence have been reported by human rights organizations over one million people have been displaced the Tigray region is on the brink of famine and a humanitarian disaster I therefore it says call on President Biden to withdraw military aid to the government of Ethiopia until the government sees its military operation and takes credible steps towards peace and I call on government the government of Ethiopia to allow immediate humanitarian access to the people of Tigray this tragic and unnecessary disaster must end now and this is a statement from Senator Welch whom we really thank and please give me a hand thank you I just want to allow you to something that Sanders wrote on Twitter a little while ago I do know that he is very supportive of us and what we believe in and really wants the genocide to cease immediately he wrote I am deeply concerned by the worsening humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia's Tigray region the United States must work together with the international community to press for an immediate ceasefire and deliver desperately needed aid to the region's people so that's from Saunders so we are so lucky we have heard from Saunders we have heard from Leahy we have heard from Congressman Welch that's pretty cool for such a small state Americans we ask that you push for bipartisan support on the need to designate the government imposed famine and violence in Tigray as a genocide failure to acknowledge and condemn the ongoing genocide against Tigrayans will allow the Ethiopian government to continue its systemic campaign of weaponized starvation rape pillaging and civilian massacres and the year since November 4th the war has extended beyond the Ethiopian borders and the Himalayan toll is already staggering the war has already resulted in thousands of civilians casualties reportedly 2.5 million people internally displaced and over 60,000 refugees have fled into Sudan nearly 5.2 million after 91% of the Tigrayan population people need emergency food aid and over 900,000 Tigrayans are an active famine and at immediate risk for starvation or death yet the Ethiopian government exacerbates the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Tigray by continuing a year-long blockade and impediments to the delivery of humanitarian aid allied Ethiopian forces the Ethiopian government and its allied Eritrean and Amharic forces for sexually violent war crimes both reports and testimonies from Tigrayan women and girls demonstrate widespread sexual and gender-based violence at the hands of the Ethiopian national defense forces Eritrean forces the Amharic police special forces and victims and Fanno and an informal Amharic militia group 8 agencies satisfied thousands of women have been victims of weaponized sexual and gender-based violence at the hands of invading forces the Ethiopian forces have also attacked and maimed civilians harassing their properties exhorting civilians as they start to flee we hesitate to surmise what's happening across vast wasps of Tigray that have been blocked from journalists and emergency agencies with limited access even there have already been several reports of large-scale massacres committed by the Ethiopian national defense forces Eritrean forces, the Amharic militia group called Fanno furthermore, international news agencies such as the New York Times, CNN, Al Jazeera and Amnesty International have continued to shed light on the acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing carried out by the Ethiopian government with the cooperation of Eritrean armed forces Amnesty report of the systemic killing of hundreds of Tigrayans in the city of Aksum one such example has echoed its grief concern for the ongoing Eritrean right violations against ethnic Tigrayans including ethnic profiling displacement, discrimination, imprisonment torture and murder despite this, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has been largely impervious to the outside pressure opting intercept to continue Ethiopia's genocide campaign therefore we implore your office to continue advocating for an end to the suffering of the Tigrayan people and push for the legislation to hold all those responsible for human rights abuses and atrocities accountable the US must persist as neglecting to do so would discount the country's commitment to human rights threaten the well-being of millions and have a lasting corrosive effect on American standing in the world thank you everyone ok, Mehran you can come to the stage last time we had a reverend Amongestaz and this wonderful reverend had saved a blessing so that reverend is not Amongestaz at this moment Alison approached me and said would you please so I will just go ahead and try to say blessing ok we wanted to have a few messages before we close it with blessing thank you very much I would like to thank friends and families from Bermond we are Tigrayans from New England we have been everywhere since this war war against us started we were in Bermond New Hampshire Boston massages Connecticut and everywhere we are very happy that the people of New England are welcoming the Tigrayans and the cause of Tigrayans so I would like to say thank you again and again the name of the communities in Boston and New England the Tigrayans the war in Tigray is about genocide in Tigray the war in Tigray is about rape in Tigray the war in Tigray is about siege in Tigray and we have to fight this this is injustice and until this is all over until this is redone we will still go and fight so thank you very much again thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you we are about to wrap it up we just did some few chats and then we are going to end it with a prayer we ended it with a prayer let's make some noise we are here to make a noise we are here to demand justice for our people so let's make some noise the one place in Islam too so I'm asking all of you to look at us here and give us the strength to fight for those who are unable to speak for themselves give us the strength to keep going on even though things are extremely dark to our families to our family members to our beloved ones back home in Tigray we ask God's in Tigray safe to feed them with their daily evil even though evil are surrounding we ask God justice safe come out in peace we love our family members our friends back home in Tigray and we ask you God to protect the kids that are being starved to protect the women and girls that have been gun-grabbed to protect have been slayed and to protect the young that have been executed summarily this is a great deal of injustice in the 21st century and we ask God to help us in this regard and end this mayhem may the almighty God bless us in the name of the father and of the son Amen I want to say thank you to Burlington especially for having us and I also want to thank our people we are not all from Boston we have people from Rhode Island we also have people from Maine who draw five and a half hour to get here and to be the voice for our people our people do have voice they just can't use their voice I'm getting motion and I just want to say thank you it's very very serious we all are here we still some of us are still waiting if our family are still alive or dead we don't know some of us but some of us already know they passed away so this is very very serious and I really appreciate for you guys to come out and to speak politics we're not here for black or white we are only here for justice we are only here for the truth and we are here for human being we all have one life and we need to live accordingly as God attended no one has right to take anyone's life or no one has to punish anyone's or to take away their rights so I really appreciate you guys for coming thank you it means a lot to us for you guys to be here for being of voice to self so do call your local representatives your leaders to help out and thank you thank you so much we're gonna appreciate all of you and my mom I don't want to make it a family affair but thank you this is where I went high school this is where I kind of grow up here so I always whatever I am even if I'm back at home I always represent because I have special when I came to this country this is where I first step put and start learning English this is the place so Burma will be always my home so it is my home also so thank you we're gonna close with Anthem Nationals thanks everybody for being here and for charging it in to be the voice of Tigray that is going on genocide our current main issue in Tigray it is the bombardment of using drones drones that are supplied from United Arab Emirates from Turkey from all equipment dedicated to commercial supply from Russia and China our fight will continue until the end of the time when we win so today we are here to be the voice of Tigray to make sure the Senators the Tigray people in order to stop not going one what we are going to next is December 9 on Thursday we will have a big rally or demonstration in Boston December 9th announced worldwide the Tigray people to protest wherever they are in order to stop the bombardment of Tigray using drones in order to stop the mass arrest all over in Ethiopia in order to open the stage which made the Tigray people starving Tigrayans are dying because of the plackage and at the end generally genocide is going on in Tigray so we are going to demonstrate on Thursday December 9th pass the message to everybody who are in Maine who are in Boston other cities to be together in bulk in mass in order to show United Arab Emirates they are bombing our people and we are in order to stop the bombardment they have to stop supplying drones so as to get to the commands so pass this message and thank you for being here thank you we appreciate it I think you want to speak initially we would like to give you one minute because we feel very unfair just you have just quickly just one minute please we will for the chance to speak I wish I could speak better I wish I could speak better I will tell you I was hard to drop any instant rain ok I was hard to broken yesterday someone from Tigray his wife is Nan Tigrayan because if he go to the concentration camp to deliver food they will arrest him so the Nan Tigrayan wife went to deliver lunch something small food and the people in the concentration camp by the way it's everywhere everybody is begging everybody is begging her for the food she was so helpless this is the fact people are 1.5 million Tigrayans living outside Tigray you know the prosperity party is determined surely to exterminate them but slowly if they do it overnight the world will react so what they decide is to exterminate the whole people slowly but surely the world should know please pass this message to the US government surely but slowly thank you I wish I could say more it's beyond what we can say here it's beyond what we can say here our people are dying thank you alright let's give it up clap your hands alright we can do it I should hit them now oh here it's arriving good luck