'This Didn't Happen Overnight'

By Dr. Hollie Nyseth Nzitatira, Associate Professor of Sociology, Ohio State University

Genocide has continued to occur with alarming frequency since the Holocaust, with several happening this very moment. As death, displacement, and cultural eradication continues, communities around the world mark April as Genocide Awareness and Prevention Month. The anniversary of several genocides are in April, including the 30th anniversary of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

On and after April 7, Rwandan communities will come together to remember what occurred, including Rwandans who live right here in the Midwest. Kizito Kalima, a resident of Indianapolis, Indiana, was just 14 years old when the genocide began.

Thinking back on his childhood in southern Rwanda, Kizito recalls, “To me, it was a normal life, living under certain restrictions and being called derogatory words for being a Tutsi in school. When the President’s plane was shot down on April 7, I thought we would be free, but I was wrong. My mom said to me ‘Any time a leader of this country dies, the Tutsi pay a heavy price.’ I didn’t know what she meant then, but the whole country changed that day.”

The genocide began swiftly after President Habyarimana’s assassination. Government officials and local leaders encouraged Hutu civilians to target their Tutsi neighbors across the country. “The violence made it to my hometown a week later. My whole town, my village was destroyed. My family was gone. The killings were broadcasted on the radio like a sports event, telling people where to find Tutsi in hiding. It was coordinated and organized. I look back now and realize the genocide was planned.”

A common misconception is that genocide can happen out of the blue, though the reality is there are similar risk factors present across cases of genocide, including but not limited to prior and ongoing violence, threats against those in power, and ideologies that dehumanize and discriminate against certain populations.

As Kizito explains, “This didn’t happen overnight. People need to learn that the genocide was being planned and organized by external forces much earlier, in the ‘80s and ‘90s. It was something political. It was a tool used to manipulate people so that one group can stay in power.”

Genocide is a weapon that leaders can turn to when their power is threatened, and their intent to destroy groups can evolve over time as they see fewer and fewer options for keeping or garnering power. Kizito recalled, “I realized the genocide was being prepared because my friends that I played soccer with would go for ‘trainings’ to learn how to fight us ‘cockroaches.’ They were my neighbors – I grew up with them – but they were actively being trained to kill us.”

Soon, visitors to the Midwest will have the opportunity to hear Kizito’s story themselves.

Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center’s new permanent, Voices of Genocide Exhibition, will open on May 1 with a mission of educating visitors about genocide. This groundbreaking exhibition relies upon cutting-edge research to outline the legal definition of genocide and the risk factors that coalesce to create situations where genocide is more likely to occur. As someone who conducts genocide forecasting, I am especially excited that the exhibition is going to teach people about the risk factors of genocide. Visitors will also learn about real-time responses to genocide, as well as longer-term efforts to build resilience within post-conflict societies.

The exhibition underscores the human story of genocide, with testimony from survivors and descendants of survivors from genocides in Armenia, Guatemala, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Rwanda, and Burma. Kizito is one of those featured survivors.

“Exhibitions like this one are very important because Holocaust and genocide studies should be implemented in every classroom across the world,” Kizito explains. “We must invest in teaching about peace and reconciliation, especially the young generation because they can prevent future genocides. Education is the best prevention tool we can use. If you see the warning signs, you must get involved, intervene, and stop it before violence takes place. Once you learn these things, you always have a means to prevent it in the future.”

Memory spaces like this exhibition provide a platform for honoring the deceased and bearing witness to the unimaginable tragedy that unfolds during genocide. Remembering the past also constitutes a powerful tool to fight against genocide. In response to a crime whose organizers are often deliberately trying to eradicate a group of people, remembering combats the very intention of destroying a group by carrying that group’s memory and experiences forward.