20 years and 3 days ago, preparations for a slaughter were in motion

20 years and 3 days ago, preparations for a slaughter were in motion.  Machetes were being sharpened and distributed.  Hatred was being stoked on the radio stations.  Somewhere, one person was readying the missile that would take down a plane that would spark a genocidal killing spree.

Sunday April 6th this year will mark the 20th year anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda.

As Rwanda continues to rise, rebuild and reconcile a generation later--the lingering and lasting implications of the inaction by the international community (the US in particular) continues to affectMartin Luther King Jr.'s admonition that our foreign policy.  I am reminded of

"In the end,
we will remember
not the words of our enemies,
but the silence of our friends."

Want to know more?  Read here:

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2013/04/rwanda.genocide.2013.neveragain.kagame.11thingsyoushouldknowabouttherwandangenocide
http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/08/genocide-in-syria-early-warning-systems.html

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/03/i-wrote-earlier-footnoted-version-of.html

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/03/that-spring-in-1994-what-i.html

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/02/guilt-of-silent-analysis-of-raoul-pecks.html

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/02/sometimes-in-april-analysis-paper.html

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/02/how-did-rwanda-cut-poverty-so-much.html

That Spring in 1994: What I Remember—Recollections of the Rwandan Genocide

Newest rewrite (previous version available here):

That Spring in 1994: What I Remember—Recollections of the Rwandan Genocide

That spring in 1994, I was 15 years old and a freshman at Bedford High School in Massachusetts.   Searching my memory of that period, I can't uncover even a faded polaroid recollection to give witness to the murder of almost a million men, women, boys, girls and babies. 

That spring

I remember working as a bagger at the grocery store on Hanscomb Air Force Base. 

I remember fleeing the base theatre with my friend CJ after we lit up cigars during a movie.

I remember the field where I would play soccer by my school.

What I can recall

I close my eyes and I can smell the dusty paper of the grocery bags.

I close my eyes and I can feel my heart racing as we were chased out of the theatre.

I close my eyes and I can see the long and overgrown green grass of the soccer field.

That same spring

Nearly a million people's last breath and smell was rotten and rife with

sweat, urine, and blood.

Murderers crushed and ripped apart nearly a million hearts.

Murderers smashed shut nearly a million sets of eyes. 

That same spring

Millions of people

knew.

And millions of people did

nothing.

Today

            Today

                        Today

                                    Today

                                                          and everyday

I trudge with the grief of my own ignorance

like an iron yoke

on the shoulders

of my soul.

My paper is here.