SumBlog 7: Anna Julia Cooper and Genocide

   When most people hear the word genocide, they think of the Holocaust because it is the most widely known and most often used example. My mind however goes to the Rwandan Genocide, which is far less known. Anna Julia Cooper's ideas on how society deals with minority groups are very applicable today, and when we learned about the genocide aspect, I was intrigued to learn more. Genocide is a way to "deal with" minority groups because it is basically elimination of the group. They are different in some aspect from the majority group, so this majority group eradicates them through savage means. Genocide is obviously the worst way to handle minorities, but it still happens more frequently than we would hope. We didn't talk about any specific examples of genocide in class, so I was interested in doing some more research.

   The Rwandan Genocide happened almost 20 years ago now, though that seems kind of hard to believe because I only first learned of it four years ago when I read a memoir written by a survivor. The reason why it is a lesser known example of genocide is that it was sort of ignored by developed areas such as the U.S. and the United Nations because those countries didn't want to get involved and they didn't want to take sides. The genocide grew out of a conflict between the majority Hutus, who were in control of the government, and the minority Tutsis. Within the nearly 100 days of fighting, it is estimated that between five hundred thousand and one million people were brutally murdered, which was about 70% of the Tutsi population. The book I read, Left To Tell by Immaculée Ilibagiza, was very detailed and in-depth regarding exactly what those people experienced. Immaculée was able to survive for 91 days by hiding in 3-foot by 4-foot room with seven other women. I don't think I need to go into anymore detail on how extreme this situation was.

   Genocide in any form is a tragedy, but Anna Julia Cooper was accurate in saying it's a way to deal with minority groups, just not a positive way. Some of her other ideas such as assimilation and pluralism would be much better choices and would result in much less conflict. It always surprises me how much these theories are still relevant today because they were written so long ago. I'm always worried that one day on the news we will hear of another mass genocide happening somewhere in the world, and I just hope this time the countries who are able to help will actually step up and give aid before it's too late. 

   This YouTube video is a good concise overview of the Rwandan Genocide, though some of the images are very revealing and grotesque.