THE PLIGHT OF RWANDA EXAMINED THROUGH HISTORY
by Vanessa Lofton
Africa: the dark continent whose trees sing our forefathers' name and the history of a people blindsided by its enemies who merely for fortune and fame raped, robbed, murdered and destroyed millions of innocent men, women and children . When asked to address issues such as the apex of black on black crime is, to say the least, disheartening. Yet, those found guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, crimes of aggression and genocide must be brought to justice by the international community.
What is most interesting about the alleged ethnic or tribal killings in Rwanda is the definitive measure by which one is considered to be one or the other (i.e., Hutu or Tutsi). History sets forth that the Hutu are a Bantu race (a family of Negroid peoples who occupy equatorial and southern Africa) that lived by planting and harvesting, and the Tutsi are a race of people similar to Ethiopian tribes, who in the past, lived as cattle-herding nomads and settled in Rwanda. Hutus desired Tutsi cattle, and made trade by paying with land and service. The Tutsis were the minority in the region (although in many areas dominant) and thus, adopted the Hutu language and tradition. However, being the dominant group, they formed the warrior-aristocracy of traditional Rwandan society. As one author describes this situation, "thus arose changing, complex relationships based on clan, ethnic group, economic arrangement and political allegiance." Another author suggests that the tribes represented classes or "amorphous categories based on occupation: Hutus were cultivators and Tutsis pastoralists" and goes so far as to state that because of the mere matter of status the two were interchangeable. One could raise to the level of a Tutsi by accumulating wealth, or in contrast, become a Hutu by falling on hard economic times.
In fact, history illustrates that it was the direct influence of the Germans and Belgians that changed the definition of tribal members. The Europeans were impressed with the grace, nobility, and European-like features of the Tutsis, and decided that they were born to rule and administered the country indirectly using the power structure in place. After World War II, Belgian radicals encouraged Hutus to intensify their struggle against Tutsi oppressors, and without going into great detail, the Europeans were directly responsible for the feud between the two tribes; and if brought under close scrutiny, the Europeans, now joined by the Americans, continue to fuel these wars via economic influence.
Genocide has been usefully described as "the promotion, execution and/or implied consent of sustained policies by governing elites or their agents - or in the case of civil war either of the contending authorities - that result in the deaths of a substantial portion of a communal and/or politicized communal group." In recognizing this as fact, there can be no denial that the 1994 atrocities in Rwanda were indeed a genocidal attempt, and that the United Nations and the international community as a whole turned its back on the people of Rwanda knowing that the outcome would be devastating. This is a matter of race and for the American public, the Europeans, and even the United Nations, to not be party defendants to these crimes against humanity only adds insult to injury.
Blacks in general have suffered a great injustice through acts of slavery but were done a greater injustice by the intentional act to dissuade learning through formal education. This has been the practice of whites against blacks the world round, which spark the following questions: what are they hiding and what have they to gain by ignorance? If Rwanda is a poor country, then who in 1994 empowered the Hutus? Lastly, if it is not racism that dictates action, then why are the children of Rwanda forsaken?
There are no quick or simple answers to Rwanda's conflict. A poor country in a precarious qualm of allegiance and faith has no black or white solution to its plight. Ignorance breeds despair, and without knowledge there will never be power or for that matter, peace. The future of Rwanda lies within the hearts and minds of its young. If they are able to forgive, yet not forget, a new nation may arise. If they are willing to, through education and history, learn to love and live with one another barring even their aged differences, a new day awaits, though undoubtedly, decades away.
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