April marked the 25th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi.
Beginning in April 1994, some 800,000 Tutsis were brutally killed during 100 days of rampage orchestrated and promoted by a government exploiting ethnic tensions. These antagonisms were rooted in the colonial strategy to rule by pitting tribes against one another, a practice for which Belgium, a former ruler of Rwanda, has now apologized.
Rwandans annually commemorate the genocide with solemn ceremonies of remembrance, but more importantly, as a time to affirm their unity as Rwandans, more than Tutsi, Hutu or Twa. Rwandans have embraced a remarkable process of reconciliation, forgiveness, and unification and serve as a shining example of healing that crosses deep divides.
We in America could learn from their work at healing divisions. It is a process that has taken place over decades and requires a continuing commitment from those who were perpetrators, nonviolent Hutus, survivors and the younger generations born since the genocide.
Forty people gathered recently at the Jones Library in Amherst to honor those lost to the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi in a procession around the common and a program at the library. Sponsored by the Karuna Center for Peacebuilding and organized by Rwandan students from area colleges, the assembled group heard the names of the students’ relatives killed in the genocide.
Each victim was no longer a statistic, but rather a beloved grandparent, aunt, uncle or cousin. These young people remember and maintain the commitment to reconciliation begun by their parents. They told us that Rwandans take responsibility for the killings of the past, and now take responsibility for creating a peaceful future.
After the Rwandan genocide, we heard the refrain, “Never again.” Never again would the world stand by in witness to genocide. The community of nations has not lived up to that promise, as we saw in Bosnia and Sudan and now in Syria, Yemen, Myanmar and elsewhere. But in Rwanda, a commitment to “never again” lives through an ongoing process of peacebuilding from which we can take heart and inspiration.
Deborah Shriver
Deerfield
The writer is a board member of the Karuna Center in Amherst which this year is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Learn more about the Center and its work in Rwanda at https://www.karunacenter.org/.