Remembering the Rwandan Genocide

Floor Speech

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Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Cleaver for giving his voice of remembrance, his voice of comfort, his voice of concern, his voice that says this terrible genocide shall never happen again, nor should anybody who is of the human species sit back and allow such a tragedy to occur as what happened 20 years ago when, simply because of being a member of a different tribe, people were killed.

When I visited Rwanda, I had the opportunity to go to the museum where memorials were set up, but you saw the remains, the bones, of a number of individuals that were slaughtered, and you also learned the history of what took place in Rwanda, how the people were taught, especially during colonization, to make one feel that they were better than the other and one should rule over the other. And it went on to such a time when people started to cry out for equality and democracy moving on, and just because they happened to be of a different tribe, the Hutu majority, to terminate the Tutsi ethnic group.

Tragedy. Husbands turning in their wives, wives turning in their husbands where there were mixed groups, feeling one was superior to the other. Tragedy. Yet, the global community sat silently on the sidelines--sat silently on the sidelines.

Mr. Speaker, at this time, before I say more, I see the distinguished gentleman from the great State of Illinois and the city of Chicago, and I yield to the Honorable Danny Davis.

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Mr. MEEKS. I want to thank the gentleman from Illinois, from the great city of Chicago, who long before he came to Congress, as a member of the Chicago City Council, spoke truth to power. And the words he has just articulated, that we should never forget that we will make sure that we are our brothers' keeper, that we need not have what I would call a gang mentality ourselves, that simply because someone is away across the ocean, may not look like some of us look, may not talk or speak the way we speak, that when we see evil, we won't stand silently by. We will stand against it and fight.

Dr. King once said that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, and so it is that evil anywhere is a threat to all of us everywhere.

Yesterday, Rwanda launched a week of official mourning to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the genocide which left 800,000 people dead and changed the face of a nation forever, and I want the people of Rwanda to know that I stand in solidarity with them during this week of mourning. But I will also stand with them next week, and I will stand with them the week after that, and I will stand with them the week after, because what happened during the spring and summer of 1994 is too important to be mourned only on an anniversary.

The tragic consequences of ethnic hatred and violence must never be forgotten, for we must never allow the events of 1994 to be repeated--not in Rwanda or anywhere else. We must, once and for all, put all racial and ethnic strife behind us as we strive for a better and a brighter future for our children and grandchildren.

Mr. Speaker, we have, in this Chamber today, one whose voice has always spoken about justice, one whose actions were to feed those who were hungry, clothe those who had no clothes, and put a roof over the head of those who were homeless. We have in the Chamber today, Mr. Speaker, an individual who didn't sit idly by and quietly when he saw injustices take place here in America. He stood up and was counted for. He wasn't silent and inactive as, unfortunately, the world was in 1994. He stood up. He put his life on the line and said: I must have a voice for the voiceless. He is an American hero whom I, with pleasure, am able to tell my children that I serve in the United States House of Representatives with an American hero, an American icon. I yield to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Rush), an icon, a true American hero, a fighter for justice, and a man who is committed to Almighty God.

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Mr. MEEKS. Thank you, Mr. Rush. I thank you for having the broad shoulders that I stand on and for being here.

Let me wrap up. Over the last several months, thousands of Rwandans have watched as a torch symbolizing the memory of those who perished, known as the Flame of Remembrance, was passed hand to hand, village to village, across the nation. In a fitting climax to its journey, that torch finally arrived yesterday at the National Genocide Memorial beneath dark skies and a gentle rain. But the rain did not distinguish the flame, nor will it for the next 100 days. The Flame of Remembrance will burn in Rwanda's capital of Kigali and remind the world of the 100 days of violence which marred its streets 20 years ago. Let us work together to make sure, Mr. Speaker, that it never happens again and that we can live in peace.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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