Hotel Rwanda Darfur
I know I should be working, but I feel the need to write this. Inspired by the write up in Christianity Today and general chatter among the bloggeratti, we went to see Hotel Rwanda for my birthday. It is incredibly moving and shows how President Woodrow Wilson was right when he said,"Those that forget history are bound to repeat it."In fact, the whole movie spits in the face of the Holocaust motto, "Never forget" because through the eyes of one man and his family we watch as 1,000,000 Africans are slaughtered AFTER the West pulls out its troops and citizens. The most telling scene is when Nick Nolte's overworked and understaffed U.N. force is gutted by the West's pullout, he can't hide his grief and shame.
He tells Paul, the main character and manager of the hotel, ""You should spit in my face. You're dirt. We think you're dirt, Paul. ... The West, all the superpowers. ... They think you're dirt. They think you're dung ... You're not even a nigger. You're African!"
It's true. African lives don't matter to the West. While Rwanda was 10 years ago, we have the genocide in Darfur and no one is stepping up to save those Africans' lives. Clarence Page from the Chicago Tribune makes that point here. Time magazine in its March 7, 2005 European-issue points out that America is ready to put tough sanctions on Khartoum and up the African Union troop numbers, but China is stopping all tough language at the Security Council level because of their need for Sudanese oil. America is hampering the process of getting justice against war criminals because they can't agree with European allies if the person should be tried at an ad hoc tribunal or the International Criminal Court (which America doesn't recognize).
While the West delays, hundreds die in Darfur daily.
What can I do? What should I do? What can the West do? What should the West do? What would Jesus do?
posted by Expat Teacher @ 3:44 PM
