I was in 3rd grade. The O.J Simpson trial and the Tanya Harding scandal dominated the news. And those 2 events I remember very clearly. It wasn't until 10 years that I realized what else had happened...
From my window I can see the airport where the president's plane did not land. I can see the stadium where Tutsi's waited in fear, because although it was the UN headquarters, they knew the UN wouldn't save them. I can walk to the Kicukiro College of Technology where the UN left, and as they left the 3,000 people who had taken refuge there were slaughtered. In 100 days, 800,000 people were brutally killed, not in a madness that suddenly overtook a country, but in a perfectly planned genocide.
I remember the nightmares I got when I was writing my thesis, and I knew at the time they were nothing compared to the nightmare lived and relived by millions of people. I think that was why I felt most inadequate.
I have learned to hate the phrase "never again." Because, quite frankly, it's bullshit. People said it after the Holocaust, and Serbia and Rwanda and Cambodia and even Iraq happened. People repeated the phrase, but look at Sudan, and Congo.
Being born into Western culture is a privilege. We have relatively corruption free elections, heck, we can even not vote if we want. We have free speech. Colleges now have a higher percentage of women in attendance than men. I can go out to eat every day. I can drive a car, on (almost) pot-hole free roads. I can assume buses won't tip over a cliff. I can buy a tv, and I can watch more than one station repeated on 33 channels. I can wear a bikini on the street if I wanted. I can swear at the top of my voice in a mall if I wanted. I can go to a mall. I can curse our president in public. I can start a political party. I can call my congressman and senators and tell them what matters to me. And if they don't listen, I can vote against them. Ice cream is a privilege. Eating meat, or choosing to be a vegetarian, is a privilege. Eating food from your neighbor, and not wondering if it was poisoned, is a privilege.
But despite this privilege, or because of it, I do not have the right to be ignorant. I do not get to ignore the fact that almost half the world — over three billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day. I do not get to ignore trafficking. I do not get to ignore slavery. Or oppression. Or mass rapes. I do not get to ignore genocide.
Part of me wants you to feel guilty. And I'm sure a part of you, if you are still reading, is mad at me. How dare I assume that your life is easy? I don't. I know life is hard. But with great power comes great responsibility.
A friend of mine lost her grandmother this week. And I am so sorry for her loss, because it is a great loss, and I don't discount that. I just ask you to remember Rwanda, who lost a tenth of her population 16 years ago. Everyone of those 800,000 victims were someones Mother. Father. Sister. Brother. Child. Lover. Friend. Neighbor. Grandparent. Godparent. And they didn't just die, they were brutally murdered by their neighbors. I know Americans are more likely to respond to a single person's grief than an entire country's, but think about it today. Consider how fortunate you are and be grateful. Be grateful that you can't even imagine the horror that was here.
I know that I can't imagine what happened. I know I can't imagine the grief still felt. I know that no matter what I do, I can't make it go away or somehow better. All I can do is grade my papers, and go to the vigil tomorrow and lamely say "never again"...
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