"...Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Familes"

"We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow, We Will be Killed With Our Families", a book written by Philip Gourevitch answered a lot of questions for me about the genocide in Rwanda. Yes, I've seen the movie, but it still didnt make sense to me. If explained in the movie Hotel Rwanda why the Tutsis were being eliminated by the Hutus, i must've missed it. This book shines a new light on it for others that are curious.

What i learned was that Hutus were a majority (85%), and the Tutsis the minority. The Tutsis represented the upper class of the population, and Hutus the lower. When the Europeans invaded the area (it isnt spoken of as an invasion but that is my opinion) they brought along with them a racial science that divided Hutus and Tutsis in an even more degrading way by handing out "ethnic identity" cards and keeping people "in place".

Certain areas of Africa were claiming independence in the late 1950's and early 60's, including Rwanda. The independence dropped the European law, and left the majority (Hutus) in charge to reverse all oppression that they had suffered in the past. The genocide was basically an effort to "maintain Hutu power". I don't quite understand why they found murder necessary because the Hutus already populated a very large 85 percent of the population.

What amazes me is that there was peace (according to Gourevitch's facts) before the Europeans came and divided the ethnicities. The Europeans found that the Tutsis resembled the Europeans more so than the Hutus. Because the Tutsis had slim faces, narrow noses, thinner lips, and wave like texture to the hair, opposed to wide and flat noses, broader faces, big lips, and lets just say it..nappy hair, they were deemed unattractive, and unfit to a civil position in the community.

I am only halfway through the book, but it seems to me that this whole thing was started by the Europeans. They had the final word in any political decision made in Rwanda before it claimed independence. They created the hostility, they created the loathing, they created the murder.

For anyone who is also interested in the subject, pick up the book, its a great read. The author speaks with families who survived, the experiences of Tutsi/Hutu married couples, scandals, and traps.

http://www.historyplace.com/pointsofview/rwanda.htm

Prefiero Morir Parada, Que Vivir La Vida En Mis Rodillas.

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