Genocide of Rwanda
Sarah Callahan
Mr. Roscher
Honors English 10-Block 4
May 20, 2011 The Genocide of Rwanda Losing a loved one has devastating effects on a person that last a lifetime. After a death, a human being goes through a range of emotions, including anguish, depression, and sorrow. Add to these emotions the experience of watching a loved one die. The trauma of helplessly witnessing a neighbor hack another person to death. Suddenly, emotions are elevated and evolve into an extreme level of fear and heartbreak. This is what happens during genocide, the systematic killing of a particular religious or ethnic group (Destexhe 42). The people of Rwanda go through these emotions everyday as a result of a 1994 genocide that began in April, ended in July, and resulted in the mass murder of over 800,000 Tutsi people. More specifically, eight thousand people died per day for one hundred days, the equivalent of five lives per minute. Five lives per minute because of ethnic competition and rising tensions between the Tutsi and Hutu groups. An ethnic competition that began with the initial separation of Rwandan citizens by European colonists and continued with destructive decisions made by political powers, resulted in a genocide that left permanent physical and mental scars on the people of Rwanda. By exaggerating stereotypes and supporting one group over the other, the European colonists drove a wedge between the Hutus and Tutsis groups, initiating the ethnic competition that led to the genocide. For 600 years the two groups lived together and shared the business of farming, with Hutus working the land as crop-growers and the Tutsis owning land as herdsman. (Rwanda 1994). When the Germans took control of the area, they applied their racist ideology and assumed that the generally taller, lighter-skinned Tutsis were the more ‘natural’ leaders, with the Hutus destined to serve them (Rusesabagina 92). The rise of influence of the Tutsis group made them feel superior to
Mr. Roscher
Honors English 10-Block 4
May 20, 2011 The Genocide of Rwanda Losing a loved one has devastating effects on a person that last a lifetime. After a death, a human being goes through a range of emotions, including anguish, depression, and sorrow. Add to these emotions the experience of watching a loved one die. The trauma of helplessly witnessing a neighbor hack another person to death. Suddenly, emotions are elevated and evolve into an extreme level of fear and heartbreak. This is what happens during genocide, the systematic killing of a particular religious or ethnic group (Destexhe 42). The people of Rwanda go through these emotions everyday as a result of a 1994 genocide that began in April, ended in July, and resulted in the mass murder of over 800,000 Tutsi people. More specifically, eight thousand people died per day for one hundred days, the equivalent of five lives per minute. Five lives per minute because of ethnic competition and rising tensions between the Tutsi and Hutu groups. An ethnic competition that began with the initial separation of Rwandan citizens by European colonists and continued with destructive decisions made by political powers, resulted in a genocide that left permanent physical and mental scars on the people of Rwanda. By exaggerating stereotypes and supporting one group over the other, the European colonists drove a wedge between the Hutus and Tutsis groups, initiating the ethnic competition that led to the genocide. For 600 years the two groups lived together and shared the business of farming, with Hutus working the land as crop-growers and the Tutsis owning land as herdsman. (Rwanda 1994). When the Germans took control of the area, they applied their racist ideology and assumed that the generally taller, lighter-skinned Tutsis were the more ‘natural’ leaders, with the Hutus destined to serve them (Rusesabagina 92). The rise of influence of the Tutsis group made them feel superior to
Cited: “Children of Rwanda’s Genocide” New York Times on the Web. 1999. The New York Times Company. 9 May 2011. . Destexhe, Alain. Rwanda and the Genocide in the Twentieth Century. New York: New York University Press, 1995. Hatzfeld, Jean. The Antelope’s Strategy Living in Rwanda After the Genocide. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009. Rusesabagina, Paul. An Ordinary Man. New York: Penguin Group, 2006. “Rwanda 1994.” Peace Pledge Union Information. 9 May 2011. . Shah, Anup. “Rwanda.” Global Issues. 25 Oct. 2006. Web. 10 May 2011. .