Matt Sieminski's Reflection

Rwandan Genocide
Matt Sieminski Period 3


This event tells us that every human has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We all have these rights but people can take them away temporarily such as what was done to the Tutsis and Hutu sympathizers during the Rwandan Genocide. It is illegal to take away human rights without just cause and the United Nations should arrest those who take them away. Did the United Nations act? No, they were too busy in Europe to even send their regards to the people of Rwanda. Even though this is now over none of the survivors can pursuit happiness because their families were torn apart, killed and mangled, because of someone else’s beliefs. It was and still is an abomination how the U.N acted during the Rwandan Genocide.
This event is very similar to the Holocaust. Two groups called the Intehamwe and Interagumbi acted as the SS did during the holocaust. They tried to exterminate the Tutsis and Hutus who were like Jews and Homosexuals. They felt like they had the right to kill these people just because of their beliefs. They felt like they had the right to kill children because of their beliefs. Just like what happened in the Holocaust. The Rwandan genocide and the holocaust are wounds in humanity that still have not healed and may never heal.
This event denies the ideas of humanism. It doesn’t matter what kind of laws a government is based upon, there will always be people that think they are better than others. These thoughts have crippled society for thousands of years. Everyone thinks that humanism is a good thing but there are those who hold themselves higher then the human population. That is why humanism is denied. That is why events like the Rwanda Genocide have occurred.
This event makes me feel appalled how appointed government officials would betray their people and not only that but kill their people. It is sickening how they don’t even care. I seriously hate those that are responsible for these crimes. How they can kill, torture, and mangle humans just like the themselves is beyond me. UI pity the victims killed in the genocide, but I feel worse for those who had survived it. They had been torn from families, and they watched them die. It must be the worst possible feeling.
Peace keeping efforts by the United Nations are not acceptable to me. Even thought they know about the atrocities that were going on in Rwanda, they did nothing. They were too focused on a much smaller problem in Europe. If the United Nations won’t help, who will? The UN didn’t want to get involved, and by not getting involved millions of people were massacred in front of their own families. The Rwanda Genocide was one of the worst massacres in history, but it would have had less of an impact if the UN had actually done something about it.