Preview only show first 10 pages with watermark. For full document please download

White-scourge Of Racism-genocide In Rwanda-good Intro

good

   EMBED


Share

Transcript

  http://jbs.sagepub.com Journal of Black Studies DOI: 10.1177/00219347062978772007;2009; 39; 471 srcinally published online May 8, Journal of Black Studies  Kenneth R. White Scourge of Racism: Genocide in Rwanda http://jbs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/39/3/471   The online version of this article can be found at:   Published by: http://www.sagepublications.com   can be found at: Journal of Black Studies  Additional services and information for http://jbs.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Email Alerts:   http://jbs.sagepub.com/subscriptions Subscriptions:   http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav Permissions: http://jbs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/39/3/471 Citations  by Axis Nut on April 21, 2009http://jbs.sagepub.comDownloaded from   Journal of Black Studies Volume 39 Number 3January 2009 471-481© 2009 Sage Publications10.1177/0021934706297877http://jbs.sagepub.comhosted athttp://online.sagepub.com 471 Scourge of Racism Genocide in Rwanda Kenneth R. White  Marywood University One of the major social problems of the 21st century is the problem of thecolor line. Racism is any activity by individuals,groups,institutions,orcultures that treats human beings unjustly because of color,physical features,and ethnicity and rationalizes that treatment by attributing to themundesirable biological,psychological,social,or cultural characteristics.Rwanda is no exception to the effects of racism. More than 800,000Rwandans were killed in the government-directed ethnic cleansing of Tutsisand Hutus during 1994. It is considered this century's best organizedgenocide. New plans and visions for peace and justice must include apsychocultural segment for social therapy if the cycle of violence is to bebroken in Rwanda and the Great Lakes Region.  Keywords: racism; ethnopolitical; genocide; Rwanda; ethnic cleansing;massacre; ethnicity; Tutsis; Hutus O ne of the major social problems of the 21st century is the problem of the color line (Du Bois,1903). Terry (1975) defined racism as thefollowing: [It] is any activity by individuals,groups,institutions,or cultures that treatshuman beings unjustly because of color,[physical features,and ethnicity]and rationalizes that treatment by attributing to them undesirable biological,psychological,social,or cultural characteristics. (p. 41) One of the assumptions is that some racial/ethnic groups are superior to oth-ers (e.g.,Europeans over Africans,Hindus over the Untouchables,Tutsis overHutus). Institutional arrangements are designed not only to award preferentialtreatment to the dominant group but also to maintain one group’s supremacyover the other group. Hence,racism is a system of privilege based on race(Tatum,2003).Another is the notion that the concept of race represents separate speciesand subspecies of Homo sapiens. However,the term race is a sociocultural  by Axis Nut on April 21, 2009http://jbs.sagepub.comDownloaded from   472Journal of Black Studies construct that uses ancestry determine racial grouping. African Americans area case in point. They are culturally and socially defined as members of theAfrican race because of having one drop of African blood in their body(Twine,1998). On the other hand,success,money,or physical features makea person White in Brazil. An example is Pelé,the great Brazilian soccer super-star,who is viewed as White by many Brazilians. Hence,the social signifi-cance of race is limited to what people make of it.Racism defies logic,knows no boundaries,and finds differences unaccept-able and intolerable. The causes of racism are many,ranging from irrationalfear and ignorance to capitalism. Its birth and development have been tracedto Europe and India (Gossett,1965; Rajshekar,1987) and has spread to othercountries like a disease of pandemic proportion. Rwanda (a small,mountain-ous,landlocked,and extremely densely populated country in Central Africa)is no exception to the effects of racism.The National Coordinating Committee for UDHR50 (1998) stated that“more than 800,000 Rwandans were killed in the government-directed ethniccleansing [i.e.,massacre] of Tutsi and Hutu citizens during 1994”(p. 2). It isconsidered this century’s best organized genocide (Corry,1998). Corry(1998) found that 333 deaths occurred every hour. People of all ages andgender were killed. Best friends,family members,and church membersturned on each other,using whatever weapons available. Moderate Hutus,politicians,human rights activists,journalists,and clergy were massacred.Young girls and women were raped and used as sex slaves before being mas-sacred. The very social fabric of the Rwandan society was torn asunder.Ethnically based massacres,such as that in Rwanda,are the result of manyfactors (Chretien,1995; Des Forges,1999; Gourevitch,1998; Kamukama,1997; Kellow,1998; C. Newbury,1995; Reyntjens,1994; Smith,1995; Uvin,1999),including a history of colonialism,ethnocentrism,political oppression,human rights abuse,social injustice,poverty,and environmental degradation(Mays,Bullock,Rosenzweig,& Wessells,1998). Other factors include thepolicies of the International Monetary Fund,donor countries of financial assis-tance,and the effects of the post–Cold War era. This article will focus on thesociohistorical roots of genocide in Rwanda,such as the precolonial Rwandansociety,the legacy of Colonialism,postindependence,and responses to theethnic genocide. Precolonial Rwandan Society Prior to the arrival of the German and Belgian colonizers,the social bound-aries between the Hutus and the Tutsis were fluid. The type of work was the  by Axis Nut on April 21, 2009http://jbs.sagepub.comDownloaded from   primary difference between the groups. Hutus had a penchant for farming,andthe Tutsis were cattle breeders. The Twa (an absrcinal group) were huntersand gatherers. Although precolonial Rwandan society had social stratification,the social boundaries were permeable,which allowed for crossing over fromone group to another. Several criteria were used to determine membership:birth parents,wealth,place of origin,social,and marriage ties. The mostimportant determinant of ethnic affiliation was the ownership of cattle. Thosewho owned cattle were considered Tutsis,whereas those who did not werecalled Hutus.Language,traditions,and religions between the Hutus and Tutsis wereeasily transferable. Bowen (1996) pointed out that “poor Tutsis became Hutusand economically successful Hutus became Tutsis”(p. 3). He also found thatlineages with lots of cattle were simply labeled Tutsi,whereas poorer lineageswere labeled Hutus. With this much socialization,assimilation,and accultura-tion between the various ethnic groups,it was really difficult to distinguishHutus from Tutsis. From the physical evidence of intermarriages or mixingamong the three groups,there were even tall and slender Twa. Over genera-tions,individuals and clans moved from one group to the other,dependingon their vicissitudes of politics and economics in accord with the politicalfortunes of the different kingdoms and with the degree of integration (i.e.,annexation after defeat in battle) of different regions into those kingdoms(Lowe,1997). Legacy of Colonialism With the establishment of German colonialism (i.e.,hegemony),the impo-sitioning of European racial theories (e.g.,Great Chain of Being and theHamitic Curse) solidified ethnic lines. The more physical European-featuredTutsis were deemed to be the natural-born local rulers,and the Hutus (short,stocky,more pronounced African physical features) were destined to servethem (Shalom,1996). The distinctions between the various groups wereracialized into hierarchies,with the Europeans at the top,the Tutsis in the mid-dle,the Hutus at the bottom,and the Twa on the periphery. Because the Tutsiswere considered to be closer to the Europeans (Whites),distorted versions of history were used to portray the Tutsis as a separate Hamitic people migratinginto the region from the north to conquer the Bantu-speaking Hutu (Lowe,1997). Walter Rodney’s (1972) words are apropos:“Colonial education cor-rupted the thinking and sensibilities of the African[s] and filled him withabnormal complexes [e.g.,racism,self-hatred]”(p. 249). The European over-mind (Orwell,1949) through colonial institutions (e.g.,government,education, White / Scourge of Racism in Rwanda473  by Axis Nut on April 21, 2009http://jbs.sagepub.comDownloaded from