25 years ago on April 7 1994 radio stations in Rwanda transmitted a message: It is time to “cut the tall trees” and “eliminate the cockroaches.” It was a signal for Hutu militia to begin the wholesale extermination of their Tutsi neighbors and moderate Hutus.
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Over the next 100 days nearly a million people were killed—mostly by machetes and other primitive weapons. Many of the massacres occurred in churches where victims had sought refuge. (Today many of these, displaying remains of the victims, have become memorials.)
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That such horror could occur in a strongly Catholic country raised troubling questions. Nuns, priests and catechists were among the victims. (In other cases, shockingly, they collaborated with the killers.) Church leaders were largely mute.
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The shame was not confined to the Church. European colonists had propagated the notion that Hutus and Tutsis were separate races and played them against each other. Now, in the midst of systematic genocide, the international community largely stood by and watched.
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If there were many perpetrators as well as guilty bystanders, there were also those who showed immense courage in efforts to save others. And among those labeled “cockroaches” there were many who bravely asserted their humanity and died proclaiming the name of God.
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Let us not suppose that such a thing could not happen again or could not happen here. It could. It has.
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It doesn’t begin with bombs and machetes. It begins with dehumanization of the “other,” with scapegoating, with “They’re not human beings, they’re animals.” The antidote also begins now—in resisting hate, in proclaiming and defending the sacred dignity of all God’s children.
Absolutely.
Primo Levi wrote about this in 'If This Is A Man' , describing his experiences in Auschwitz. It is an incredible book.
He also noted that his atheism gave no protection whatsoever from the Nazis, he was still considered subhuman.
The world is run by what psychologists call psychopaths and often their henchmen the narcisssists.
What can we do against that? Nearly nothing.
Prohibit circumcision, make sure that everyone gets a completed education and a job, and that most may bear arms.
The UK is in the grip of far right dehumanisation of refugees and Muslims. A few years ago the UN warned our government, but to no avail. This is what is driving Brexit, a kind of omni racism. All to divert attention from tax evasion by the super rich.
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A chilling and necessary reminder that hate always lurks in an untransformed human heart.
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Massive false equivalency in comparing the atrocities & genocide in Rawanda, to the KKK decades ago, to white nationalism today in the USA. The first is not even remotely relevant and the second has rescinded to the point of having a black US President elected to the White House.
And where on earth would such an idea come from? My, my, my...it’s actually been immortalized in your Bavli Talmud. Here’s one example:
"The Jews are called human beings, but the non-Jews are not humans. They are beasts." - Talmud: Baba mezia, 114b
#Intellectualdishonesty
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Thank you for this sharing this story today. No doubt on many levels, it shows the power of evil (not only in those who wielded the machetes.) But in Rwanda I also heard testimonies that showed the power of love. Our future depends on which is ultimately stronger.
I met Immaculee Ilibagiza last year at the Catholic Womens confrence in Edmond, OK. She told her story of hiding in a bathroom with 7 other women for 91 days. Everyone needs to read her book, Left To Tell.
