Posted on June 22, 2005 6:57 AM by chadley
Last night Angela and I watched the movie Hotel Rwanda, about the genocide that happened in Rwanda in 1994. Like any movie of its kind, it is of course very sad. Several hundred thousand people died during the civil war in Rwanda, most of them Tutsis or moderate Hutus.At one point during the movie, a journalist played by Joaquin Phoenix, tells Paul Rusesabagina, played by an excellent Don Cheadle, "I think if people see this footage, they'll say Oh, my God, that's horrible. And then they'll go on eating their dinners." I, like most Americans, watched that and said to myself, "Yeah, that's true." Then I realize, I was probably one of those people. I am somewhat shamed by this.
On September 11th, 2001 and the days afterward, I was shocked at the loss of life perpetrated by a group of men whose main motivation for their acts was hatred. After visiting New York City this weekend and seeing the place where the towers used to be, I was reminded of the numbers of people who were killed and who lost friends and family that day. Thinking about that, I cannot fathom the horror of more than half a million people being slaughtered in the name of a hatred that I cannot even understand.
When I watch movies and documentaries about the atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis in World War II, I usually think, "Those bastards. We can't let something like that happen again." But we did, we let it happen again. Shame on us.
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
Rwanda Information Exchange
Hotel Rwanda Movie Website
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