Tag Archives: Rwandan Genocide
Never Forget the Tutsi Genocide in Rwanda
Never forget the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda because not only is it a valuable conscience building lesson for all Afrakans, if we ignore and forget it, we are bound to repeat it in our various countries and cultures.
April, 2019 marks the 25th anniversary of the worst genocide in modern Afrakan history, which resulted in the deaths of nearly one million Tutsi Rwandans at the hands of their fellow Hutu neighbors. It is of utmost importance to all Black and Afrakan people to never forget an event of such magnitude because if we do, we will never learn to become more conscientious people, its accounting will be altered, denied and forgotten, and because of those circumstances, we will undoubtedly repeat it over and over.
As westerners of Afrakan descent, we may never be able to understand the tribal nature of our genetic homeland and many Afrakans may even be quick to point that out if we dare to project any sort of moral superiority over the many and various cultures on the Afrakan continent. Therefore, we can only seek commonality with Afrakans through the fact that we are all human beings who want the same things in life, which are; mutual respect among men and freedom to live according to the historical ideologies that provide comfort and purpose to life.
With that said, it is well documented that the Tutsi genocide is the result of extreme tribalism between the prominent tribes of the region, the Hutu and the Tutsi. We recognize that the conflict began out of a lack of tribal respect on both sides. Some say it is due to deep colonial brainwashing that saw centuries of divide and conquer tactics at the hands of European powers. Some say no, its jealousy over physical features and Hutus believing that the Tutsi are East Afrakan invaders who don’t belong in the region.
Whatever the reason was, it was obvious that the level of conscience among the people had sunk to extremely low levels and when conscience is suppressed ideology will rise to take over the mind of anyone, including preachers. Before the killing frenzy began, years of animosity had slowly turned into racial hatred. Hutu politicians, Pastors, and their supporters were openly using hatred to spread propaganda until the general public was willing to kill without remorse.
Over approximately 100 days it is estimated that close to one million Tutsi were massacred throughout Rwanda. Gangs of Hutu soldiers, and civilians roamed the streets killing Tutsi men, women, and children wherever they found them hiding. No sanctuary was safe as they kicked down the doors of homes, schools, and churches to hack people to death with machetes. United Nations peacekeepers, who were stationed in the country due to prior tribal conflicts, did there best to save as many people as they could in the beginning but their calls for further help were ignored. It clearly reveals the hypocrisy of some so called morally responsible world powers.
25 years after the Tutsi genocide, it has been largely forgotten in the Western world because most of our leaders never gave a damn in the first place. When it is brought up in terms of accountability, most Hutu are remorseful but a small number of them remain defiant and are actively working to change the narrative. Like the German holocaust deniers, they spread misinformation claiming that only a few hundred Tutsi were killed or it was the Tutsi who orchestrated the whole thing, sacrificing their own tribes’ people to gain sympathy from the international community.
At Afro-Conscious Media (ACM), we do not subscribe to conspiracies. We were alive and followed the news when the genocide was happening and we’ve heard neutral 3rd party accounting from people such as Roméo Dallaire, commander of the UN forces who was on the ground in Rwanda during the genocide.
Most Tutsi survivors of the genocide express that they are still being haunted by the trauma of the event. Some say they have forgiven the Hutu in order to try to forget and move on while others have simply done their best to forget by building happy memories to suppress the bad ones.
This is the way the human mind works; we compartmentalize trauma in order to protect our sanity but while it is comforting, there is a danger in forgetting because over time those same petty differences, be they tribal or racial, will inevitably return if they are not dealt with properly and commemorated in a conscientious way.
ACM will always commemorate the Tutsi genocide, not to rehash the trauma of the event but to encourage conscious thought as to what will happen when we as Black and Afrakan people continue to engage in colorism, tribalism, and racism.