Words Matter: Remember | United | Renew

Today marks the 25th Anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide Against the Tutsi. While I lived in Rwanda, Commemoration Week was steeped in sadness, and for me, anger and confusion. As a Western outsider, I could not begin to comprehend how such a tragic era in history unfolded, especially as I enjoyed the peace and safety of the Rwanda of a new era. I would watch the young Rwandan men I worked with in cycling navigate the week and 100 days of Commemoration with respect and profound unity. I would witness the actions of those who lived through and lost so much in 1994, the generation born in refugee camps and introduced into a chaotic, tenuous and recovering Rwanda and those young men born into a Rwanda with a past only relayed to them in words.

Rwanda taught me to release old grudges and to forgive in a context much more untroublesome than any Rwandan had experienced. If they could forgive a murderous neighbor, why couldn’t I forgive a verbal or perceived slight? I felt petty and weak. I never went to any events or meetings while in Rwanda during Kwibuka because I could never begin to fathom the agony and scars left on my riders and their families. How could I ever truly understand and honor their pain when I had never experienced so much as a close natural death of any family member? How could I know such a profound trauma having lived over 40 years with no trauma? I found myself trying to escape during this week of commemoration because I became more angry by the why versus the aftermath.

Words matter.

The prelude to the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi was a systematic campaign to reduce one ethnic group to the status of an insect we all instinctively kill upon the sight of it running across our kitchen counter — the cockroach. It was years of dehumanization and propaganda. How can you wake up one more and kill your neighbor? You can’t. You kill a cockroach. Tutsis were no longer “humans.”

Tutsis were called cockroaches in the classrooms, in business, on the radio, in print. For years, they were slowly, methodically and systematically dehumanized. And then Rwanda erupted. It was only a matter of time and it just needed a trigger, the assassination of the current President and the accompanying takeover of the airwaves to cause “normal” people, Hutus, to rise up and slaughter their neighbors. They were killing cockroaches. They had forgotten the persons.

It happened in Armenia.

Germany.

Cambodia

Bosnia.

Darfur, Sudan.

And in 1994, Rwanda.

Will it happen here, in the U.S.? Could it? We like to think we are evolved and intelligent people, yet, words are already being spoken to dehumanize segments of our population.

We killed the Native Americans. It already happened.

When I comment, or blog about the words spoken by our “leaders” political, religious, or by the general population it is because I am acutely aware of the destructive power of the repetition of such words.

There are NOT “fine people on both sides.” One group is spewing hate rhetoric based on color to one group reduced to the “other,” the people who this is NOT their country, the former slave, the Jew, and the immigrant. The “lesser” person.

Putting children in cages — dehumanizing.

Using the words disgusting and shithole are also dehumanizing. Words matter and our country is venturing down a dangerous path of politics of dehumanization.

One of the most challenging truths of the Rwandan genocide was the complicity of the churches. Churches should be safe havens, shielding from hate and violence and an island of protection when the surrounding community has been thrown into turmoil. In Rwanda, that was often not the case. In Philip Gourevitch’s book, We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed with Our Families, the title was taken from an actual letter from the President of the Seventh Day Adventist Church Operations in Rwanda. This man was later convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda for aiding in the killings.

In 2016, the Catholic Church issued an apology to the country of Rwanda for its roll in allowing and participating in the killings. Tutsis sought refuge in these churches, only to realize, they were not safe and had been offered shelter to be gathered in one place to be slaughtered.

The riders of Team Rwanda Cycling would always ask to go to church on Sunday if they were in camp over a weekend. I could not reconcile going into a church 20+ years which had aided in killing my family, friends or neighbors. Sitting with a group of my older riders one year, I asked them how they could go to church. I didn’t question their belief in God as I still believe in a God of mercy. I questioned their faith in man’s religion which had been complicit and active in the massacre. Their response was they forgave. I never went to church in eight years in Rwanda. My forgiveness has not evolved to be granted to the “men of faith” in Rwanda.

Every word emanating from our lips matters. Whether they are words of support and encouragement from the heart or factual admonitions from the brain, words can uplift, and they can also destroy. The lies being told in politics, in business, to one another and to ourselves are slowly becoming our new narrative in America. Locking children in cages and separating them from their parents is NOT border security. It is dehumanizing Mexicans and asylum-seeking Central Americans fleeing horrific violence the US helped create in their countries. When Americans hear the story of Rwanda, they cannot fathom how people could kill almost 1,000,000 of their countrymen. I completely understand they weren’t men, women, and children, they were cockroaches no different than the “Illegals” “Rapists” “Murderers” “Muslims” “Terrorists” “Invaders” “Fags” “Animals” “Monkeys.”

The line has already been crossed. It is up to all of us to call one another on words of dehumanization and words which ignite, inflame and incite violence.

Rwanda has come through the horrific events of 1994 and emerged as a united country, focused on the future. It took 25 years to remember, unite and renew in Rwanda. We can learn from Rwanda without living through the destruction. But then again, in 1994, US Intelligence and President Clinton knew exactly what was happening in Rwanda and refused to use the word “genocide” for fear of having to act on public opinion. President Clinton had already decided not to intervene 16 days before the killings began.

Words matter.

#Kwibuka25

Remember

Unite

Renew