Tristen Browne

ENC1101/Massey
10/21/2015

Rwandan Genocide 1994

The Rwandan Genocide occurred between April 7th and July 1994. There was an
estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000 Rwandans killed, primarily Tutsi being killed by the Hutu
majority. The genocide was said to have been planned by members of the National Government.
The movie Hotel Rwanda was a less cruel depiction of what occurred during the 100 days of
mass slaughter but also gave a vivid display, enough for you to feel how they felt when all of this
was going on. The movie was not only sad but heart breaking, while watching the movie I
thought to myself, how can people be so cruel? Why would someone willingly take another mans
life with no remorse? But this is something that we must first experience in order to understand.
After doing some research on the genocide for my own knowledge, many people seemed
to blame these senseless acts on Belgium, the United Nations and France because they were
aware in advance of the preparations being made by the Hutu to exterminate the Tutsi minority,
but did nothing to stop or prevent it. If this is in fact true, why would they encourage or condone
such acts; the killing of innocent human beings and children who had their entire lives ahead of
them. It is unexplainable and such acts cannot be validated. If the Tutsi was seen as a threat by
the Hutu, there could have been other ways of solving conflict between the two groups that did
not involve the violence. I think that more of the global community could have helped to stop the
genocide instead of reporting it on the news. Many large countries have military forces who they
could have sent to alleviate the problem and stop or reduce the amount of deaths.

I think that there was a very important lesson to be learned from the genocide but many
people turned a blind eye to it and it still hasnt been learned 20 years later. Seeing human beings
killing others without remorse shows how heartless some people are. Many countries still use
war as a form of conflict resolution which also results in the many deaths leaving children
without parents, many people homeless and mass destruction without really solving the actual
problem. There are many ways to conflict resolution in civilized ways that dont involve guns or
killing.
The Rwandan Genocide was one of many mass killings or wars that have occurred
around the world. Though many people may not remember or like myself are only now aware of
it from watching Hotel Rwanda, it is in my opinion a reflection of much of what is happening in
our society today with the increase in violence and mass shootings around the United States.
There is nothing that can be said to justify the heart breaking events which occurred. As human
beings we have to learn to love each and not let the power of hate make us blind, it is the only
way we can move forward.