The Rwandan Come Back
Imagine having an event change, completely dividing a country. Imagine turning on your friends and family just because they are taller or have a different color skin. It is hard to, isn’t it? A little country in Africa, the size of Vermont, has been through this. Rwanda was a country that was divided by violence and genocide. But after years of suffering they have outgrown the aftermath and united again. I picked the song Heartbeat by The Fray that mentioned these aspects and decided to research the genocide.
Rwanda was a country torn apart by ignorance between two groups known as Hutu and Tutsi. But the violence and separation are known to have dated back at least 100 years before the genocide in1994. There are known …show more content…
The Belgian administration quickly started giving support to Hutu instead of Tutsi when they seen that Hutu outnumbered Tutsi dramatically. Once Hutu realized what was happening, they began using their control immediately (White). This is when the violence really started to be a problem. Tutsi didn’t have many physical acts of violence while they were in control. The first act of violence occurred in November of 1959 when word got out that some young Tutsi kids had supposedly killed a Hutu politician. As soon as Hutu heard about it they reacted violently throughout the country, with 300 Tutsi murdered in just two weeks …show more content…
In battle for control the country was divided into Hutu, who made up 84% of the population, and Tutsi who only made up 15% of the population (White). Of course the country had always been divided between the two groups but it had not separated Rwanda like it was about to. The RPF waited two days and the violence had not stopped so they started for the capital, Kigali. The RPF knew the violence wouldn’t stop until they got to the capital and took control of it, and that was their plan. Unorganized Hutu armies commonly used the term “exterminate” when talking of killing the Tutsi and referred to them as “cockroaches” (Marshall). The armies of Hutu captured and killed innocent Tutsi civilians (White). “Schools, hospitals, and places of business were shuttered. Thousands of doctors, teachers, business leaders, and other educated Rwandans were either killed, committed murder themselves, or fled (Marshall).” The violence and fear was so great that it made people want to commit suicide. Even though the deaths were numbered close to those from the Holocaust the way the people died was not even close. Rwandans did not use “ghettos, death camps, or gas chambers” but people were beaten with clubs, chopped up with machetes, and blown up with grenades. Even through the horrible fight neighbors, close friends, and family turned against each other and killed people they loved (White). One of the few shelters that
Imagine having an event change, completely dividing a country. Imagine turning on your friends and family just because they are taller or have a different color skin. It is hard to, isn’t it? A little country in Africa, the size of Vermont, has been through this. Rwanda was a country that was divided by violence and genocide. But after years of suffering they have outgrown the aftermath and united again. I picked the song Heartbeat by The Fray that mentioned these aspects and decided to research the genocide.
Rwanda was a country torn apart by ignorance between two groups known as Hutu and Tutsi. But the violence and separation are known to have dated back at least 100 years before the genocide in1994. There are known …show more content…
The Belgian administration quickly started giving support to Hutu instead of Tutsi when they seen that Hutu outnumbered Tutsi dramatically. Once Hutu realized what was happening, they began using their control immediately (White). This is when the violence really started to be a problem. Tutsi didn’t have many physical acts of violence while they were in control. The first act of violence occurred in November of 1959 when word got out that some young Tutsi kids had supposedly killed a Hutu politician. As soon as Hutu heard about it they reacted violently throughout the country, with 300 Tutsi murdered in just two weeks …show more content…
In battle for control the country was divided into Hutu, who made up 84% of the population, and Tutsi who only made up 15% of the population (White). Of course the country had always been divided between the two groups but it had not separated Rwanda like it was about to. The RPF waited two days and the violence had not stopped so they started for the capital, Kigali. The RPF knew the violence wouldn’t stop until they got to the capital and took control of it, and that was their plan. Unorganized Hutu armies commonly used the term “exterminate” when talking of killing the Tutsi and referred to them as “cockroaches” (Marshall). The armies of Hutu captured and killed innocent Tutsi civilians (White). “Schools, hospitals, and places of business were shuttered. Thousands of doctors, teachers, business leaders, and other educated Rwandans were either killed, committed murder themselves, or fled (Marshall).” The violence and fear was so great that it made people want to commit suicide. Even though the deaths were numbered close to those from the Holocaust the way the people died was not even close. Rwandans did not use “ghettos, death camps, or gas chambers” but people were beaten with clubs, chopped up with machetes, and blown up with grenades. Even through the horrible fight neighbors, close friends, and family turned against each other and killed people they loved (White). One of the few shelters that