Garvey's Ghost: Black Talk

Hotel Rwanda: A Who Responsible?

Today I read an article by Mr. Hutchinson entitled Clinton Kept HOtel Rwanda Open

In it he says, in part:

But Clinton's buck-passing covered up the hideous truth that he knew about the genocide from the start, and could have done something about it. Three months before My Life came out the National Security Archive, a Washington D.C. non-government research institute sued in court and got hold of classified intelligence reports. The most damning were the eyes-only national intelligence daily reports that the CIA supplied to Clinton, Vice President Al Gore and other top administration officials on the Rwanda massacres. In the reports, diplomats, military and UN officials, aid workers, and intelligence operatives on the scene gave first hand accounts of the holocaust, and told of boasts that Hutu leaders made to wipe all Tutsis out.

Well ok. can we be real here for a minute. Was Bill Clinton actually in Rwanda? No.
Did Bill Clinton have a Machete, Machine Gun or any other weapon while in Rwanda? No.
Did Bill Clinton sit at the microphones of various radio stations and incite the killings? No.

Who did these things? Rwandans themselves. Lets put the blame where it belongs. Since our contact with Europeans we, Africans have been buying guns and other outdated military arms from whites and using them to kill, rape and enslave our brothers and sisters. Who's fault is that? Really. So Bill Clinton knew it was happening. So what? The killers themselves knew what was happening and did not care. Instead of seeking means to improve Rwandan society spiritually and materially, they decided that it was better to commit mass murder of some created "other." And exactly what did it get them? Is Rwanda a better place now? Do more people have jobs and wealth? Are life expectancies increased? Is there better healthcare? Is the governement more responsive to the people?

Sure we could sit and discuss how the French did such and such, and how colonialism did such and such. Most of us know this stuff already. If we, Africans are going to continue to act like we don't care about our own welfare then we should not expect or get upset when other people don't lift a finger to help us out.

Let's stop this Bill Clinton shoulda or the US shoulda and start with the what we should would and could have done OURSELVES.

Links:
http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/20872/