Remembering the Rwandan Genocide

Floor Speech

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Mr. CLEAVER. Mr. Speaker, my Special Order deals with the very difficult and even painful subject of Rwanda.

Mr. Speaker, there is an ancient story about Rwanda. It is one from which a number of meanings can be extracted.

We are here today because we remember the victims of the horrific events in our world's history. We honor survivors and recognize the steps that have been taken to remedy the atrocities that have occurred.

Over and over, you will hear people on this floor, Mr. Speaker, say that things that have happened in our history that were horrific and inhuman shall never happen again. Things like American slavery and the European extermination, mainly by Germany, of Jews throughout Europe should never happen again.

So we must continue to fight for justice as the international issues come to our consciousness. And we know that, as time moves on, there will be additional tragedies around the globe.

Rwanda has certainly experienced its share, if not more than its share, of tragedy. This ancient parable in Rwandan is, God spends the day elsewhere, but he sleeps in Rwanda--Imana yirirwa ahandi igataha I Rwanda. For those of us who are familiar with the creation story, we know that God worked for 6 days and then rested. The Rwandan people believe that God, on the seventh day, came to Rwanda to rest from his work the previous 6 days.

Rwanda is 1 mile above sea level, about what Denver, Colorado is. And because of its elevation, Rwanda is paradisiacal, in the sense that the climate is cooler in Rwanda than it is in many of the other parts of Africa, certainly sub-Saharan Africa, and the greenery is like that of no other place in Africa, and it will rival even some of the beautiful spots in the Caribbean.

It is also a fabulous place, the Rwandans thought, for God to come to rest.

Well, in a country of seven million, at least in 1994--who knows what the population is today, after many of the atrocities, but the people believed that God could rest there in this beautiful, this lush, very, very receiving and welcoming land, without being interrupted.

Now, all cultures, all religions choose to elevate its land or its people. For example, the Jewish people, understandably, refer to the Sea of Galilee as a sea. For those who know geography, you know that the Sea of Galilee is actually a lake.

The Jordan River--before I went there for the first time, back in 1994, I envisioned the Jordan River as something comparable to the Mississippi River or something comparable to the Missouri River, which is about 2,000 miles across the country.

The truth of the matter is, there were certain points of the Jordan River that I actually jumped over. And it flows down into the Dead Sea, which is, again, not a sea, but another lake.

So it is understandable that people will declare something to be a little more than it really is. So the Rwandan people, believing that God came to their country, this paradise, 1 mile above sea level, was something that, I think, many of us would have done had we been Rwandans.

I also know that there were people who would question how could God sleep in a place with all of the genocide that has taken place there, with all of the violence against the men and women and children, and even violence based on tribal ethnicity. But the Rwandan people still believe that God sleeps in their country.

I believe that God sleeps in Rwanda, but I also believe that He is awakened because of what has happened. God can neither sleep nor slumber where there is injustice, where there is wrong, where there is murder, and so God has had an unrestful amount of time, unrestful nights in Rwanda since the beginning of the great genocide.

800,000 people, Mr. Speaker, mostly ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus, died at the hand of Hutu extremists during a 100-day period; a 100-day period.

That would be killing all the people of my hometown of Kansas City, Missouri, the largest city in our State, and all the people 221 miles away in St. Louis. Both cities would be completely exterminated if they lost 800,000 people.

But the Rwandan people lost 800,000 people in 100 days. That is seven individuals, seven human beings created by God, murdered every 7 minutes.

Ten thousand victims were killed each day. Just think about it: 10,000 human beings created with the hands of the alms-giving God. And then someone stole their lives for something as petty as ethnicity, something as petty as a different language.

So when you think about hundreds of thousands of victims who were murdered, there are hundreds of other thousands of victims who were infected with HIV, as the Hutu extremists raped, as a tool of violence, women and young girls.

The killing ended once Tutsi rebel forces attacked and retook the country.

When I think about what we have done and what we have spent in lands around the world, to tragedies no less repulsive, I have to raise the question, why has the United States been asleep, lo, these many years?

I think that our children and our children's children will look back on the nineties, in particular, and wonder, where were the Americans?

Where was the United States while this happened?

Now, 20 years after all of the genocide, Rwanda has moved stunningly in a new and positive direction. I am very pleased that they have, and all Americans should be pleased. But there still is much work to be done.

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Mr. CLEAVER. Thank you to Mr. Welch, who is a very conscientious Member of this body. We appreciate his sensitivity, as well as that of many others who probably will not be here on the floor.

I will state again, because Congressman Welch has mentioned it, that is 800,000 people, 800,000 people killed, murdered in 100 days. 10,000 human beings killed every 24 hours in this world during our lifetime.

So the Rwandans' ancient parable about God sleeping at night in Rwanda is only partially true. God could not sleep nor slumber with this kind of tragedy taking place anywhere in a world that He created for freedom and justice and peace and harmony.

Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from the Fifth District of Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the whip of the Democratic Caucus.

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Mr. CLEAVER. I thank the distinguished whip for his comments and for, frankly, requesting that we have the opportunity this evening to remember those horrific events in world history.

As the whip said, we must declare ``never again,'' and it must be real and serious; and, if necessary, we must redouble our efforts against evil anywhere it presents its ugly head.

The pain that I am still feeling here tonight is because, since 1995, the international tribunal has indicted 95 individuals. Let me go back and remind you, 800,000--it could be many more--died, 95 individuals have been indicted, and there have been 49 convictions.

Now, if there is a person with a heart anywhere on the planet, that heart should be broken right now, knowing what happened to the Rwandan people, what happened to women, little girls, children. The world shall not tolerate this again.

I would like to now yield to the distinguished Congressman from the Ninth District of Memphis, Tennessee, Mr. Steve Cohen.

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