As a post-genocide generation, we were educated about the tragedy through school, government programs and even though our families. It was of the utmost importance that we learn an unfiltered truth about our shared history.
At first, I did not understand quite well the gravity of this history. I was still a child but when I started to be intrigued and seek for myself, I discovered some truths that I will never forget. Even though I did not live it, the profundity of what happened in a country I hold dear downed unto me. In other words, I was shocked.
{{What shocked me}}
As I dived through testimonies of the survivors through countless visits to Genocide memorials, through many books and interpretations; I was shocked by the inhumanity of brothers and people who were not strangers. What still shocks me to this day is the inhumanity of deniers, the acceptance of an ill legacy.
Oxford defines inhumanity as a behavior that is extremely cruel and brutal, which is not even words enough to describe the severity of the actions that were intentionally committed by organizers who cannot be separated from the perpetrators.
My mind wondered about many things. I had many questions but the one that resonated the most was the ‘how?’
How could brothers cease their brotherhood, how could neighbors cease to become neighbors and how could a country be so divided. As my dive went on, I finally got my answer. It was a move long prepared.
It was a move well prepared and long orchestrated.This was not a sudden action nor was it a spontaneous deed. It started long before anyone knew what it would amount to from the beginning of Rwanda’s colonization by Germany in 1884 as part of German East Africa, followed by Belgium in 1916 during World War I.
Both Germany and Belgium turned the traditional Hutu-Tutsi relationship into a class system.
The then minority Tutsi (14%) were favored over the Hutus (85%) and given privileges and western-style education which to my understanding was a strategy to rule more efficiently since at that time Tutsi were established leaders and the upper class.
Now, I am not going to plunge you into a whole history session. This is not what this article intends but this history shows us that the inhumanity I was talking about did not come out of anywhere. This was a result of hatred crafted from the manipulation of the white man. Sadly it grew and extended that it was passed from one generation to another.
From the beginning of class systems to strategical favoritism to the rebellion of the unfavored class in the 1959 revolution, to massacres in many regions in the country that forced many to flee the country. This all came from the wickedness of people who tried to divide us, which was their plan all along and was building up to something.
This hatred was passed down from one generation to the other and as a legacy as something they should carry for the rest of their lives, as an inheritance that should be fulfilled.
The Belgians made a 180° turn when they favored the Hutu class over the Tutsi because they were being met with resistance and unforeseen disagreements because then leaders wanted independence which resulted in their tragic deaths.
They shifted sides-so that their reign would not end, another well concocted strategy I would say- and portrayed support to the Hutu class which had already made up its mind that the Tutsi were the enemy and that Belgians were their right hand without knowing their support was a Trojan horse.
Rwanda became a republic, the massacres continued as poor leadership intensified everything.
As you all can guess this hatred continued to be passed down, and with manipulated people in power all limits were crossed and the lines were blurred. Least to say, their blood was a boiling red.
Those who indulged this hatred as a legacy committed the unthinkable; they amounted to cruel and brutal behaviors which will never be justified.
Hate speeches were loud and clear, menaces were the norm from village to village most participated, the grandparents, the parents to the children, from locals to national radio stations to politicians.
And on an unfortunate day in April 1994; the Genocide started, children lost their parents, parents lost their children, men were brutally massacred. Women were raped, tormented and murdered. Grandparents watched their whole lineage disappear.
The monstrosity would be hard to explain since I have not seen it with my own eyes but when I look at the evidence, I am and will forever be shocked.
More than 1 million Tutsi lost their lives and to survivors, their lives were changed forever.
{{Their Ill legacy }}
But my stupefaction did not end there. What is even more shocking and appalling is the inhumanity of deniers, those that continue to protect perpetrators, those that continue to blame the victims, and those that minimize the scale and severity of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
They continue to deny the entirety of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi since it has ironically disposed them of their own humanity or in some way exposed their lack of it. Therefore it is an attempt to humanize themselves in the process.
This is why denial is not only the last stage of Genocide but also the first because denial sustains ideology. If ideology keeps living on at some point, it will trigger another tragedy.
Moreover, it is distasteful to see children denying the crimes of their fathers and mothers, it is pitiful to see them carrying on this prosaic legacy.
As the Kinyarwanda proverb says; ‘Umwana wanga umusigira urubanza rwakunaniye’ or in some cases they take it upon themselves, which is out of ignorance or other ulterior motives.
On that note, they cannot and will not succeed in their foul attempts to seed conflict again, I say we will not let them.
Foremost those that inherit this ill legacy, in other words, this generational absurdity, should first question their sense of awareness and morals.
If all evidence is presented to you and you’re still accepting such inheritance, what does that make you?
‘Rather than embrace the ideology of their forebearers, they should rather embrace the truth as the “currency of forgiveness.” This choice breaks the vicious cycle and commits them to a virtuous circle as credible and trusted members deserving the community’s good fortune.’ Dr. Lonzen Rugira in his article in the pan-African Review Magazine titled ‘Iso ni nde?’
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