Today, Barack gave an historic speech on race.
Now, Hillary owes us a speech on genocide.
Back in 1994, for 100 days, over 800,000 blacks were butchered to death during the Rwanda Genocide. Bill did nothing.
Thousands of black women, young and old, were raped and mutilated. Hillary said nothing.
So many bodies were dumped in the Kagera River that it ran red with blood and narrow parts clogged with bloated & hacked body parts. Clinton denied it was genocide.
Let's hear it, Hillary.
An open letter to Obama supporters in my home state of Vermont:
Obama folk,
Please – don’t abandon the victims of the Rwanda Genocide again.
In 1994, the U.S., led by Clinton, had a UN obligation to intervene. Clinton avoided our obligation by denying it was genocide – even though Hutus were killing 56,000 Tutsis each week – a murder rate 5 times the Holocaust. Incredibly, the media, Democrats, even African-American leaders, all trusted Clinton and abandoned Rwanda.
At least Bush is calling the crisis in Darfur what it is – genocide.
If we can hold Bush responsible for not intervening in Darfur (we do), then we must hold Clinton responsible for what happened in Rwanda:
Don’t abandon Rwanda a second time by keeping silent about it in a 2008 Presidential Campaign between Obama and one of the 1994 leaders. We’re not talking about infidelity – this is about genocide. It’s not a personal attack. It’s about human rights and U.S. foreign policy - it’s very serious.
We’re all humans and we care about other humans, don’t we? If you can’t care about 800,000 dying needlessly than what do you care about? If remaining silent about a genocide is winning with dignity, I’d rather lose my dignity, lose the election and speak out – wouldn’t you?
Fortunately, as Rubin Bennett so ably pointed out, Obama’s on track to win the nomination anyway. So why bring up Rwanda?
It matters how the Clintons lose.
If they’re seen as losing to the rock star first African-American Obama phenomenon, we win the election and little else.
If Clinton loses, in part, because America held them responsible for abandoning Rwanda – we win the election, earn a little more respect in the world, especially in Africa, and we take a step towards healing the wounds in our soul from 1994.
Can Obama raise this issue tactfully? Yes he can!
Perhaps his campaign can produce a counter to the 3am ad that says, "In 1994, the phone rang at 3am for 100 days in a row. It was the victims of the Rwanda Genocide. The Clintons denied it was ringing while 800,000 blacks were butchered to death.".
OK, maybe Obama's team can come up with something more gentle, but you get the point.
This small amount of justice for Rwanda may again give hope to African children and pride for American children.
The Yes We Can video is special and not just because...
it inspired me in the same way will.i.am was.
You see, Justice for Rwanda is almost at hand…
and its right the vanquisher is an African-American
Someday, soon, Obama will win the nomination…
ending Clinton’s politics of personal destruction.
We can sense the end of the Clinton era...
and know that will mean a better America.
However, we'll wake up sober the next day...
and know returning without success is the wrong way.
Leaving Iraq before the mission's done…
will mean suffering for millions and honor for none.
By helping young Arabs choose democracy over tyranny…
we keep our promise to Iraq and America safe and free
I pray that God will help Barack...
change course and offer success for US in Iraq.
Otherwise, I'll have to endure some pain...
and hold my nose...
while voting...
for the liar John McCain.
Thank you Florida! Thank you Fox News! Not!
"Until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream" - MLK Jr.
MLK fought injustice against blacks. Unfortunately, he was not alive to stop the injustice against blacks during the 1994 Rwanda Genocide where 56,000 died each week at a murder rate 5 times the Holocaust.
In week one, MLK would have called Clinton and demanded action. In week two, he would have led a protest shaming Clinton into taking action.
Instead, without MLK, with Clinton, over 800,000 blacks were butchered needlessly.
No protests. No justice. No righteousness like a mighty stream..
Not only have there been no protests, but many black leaders support Clinton's return to the White House.
Where is the anger? Why don't we see thousands of young people protesting each Clinton event? Why aren't the Clintons asked about why Bill turned his back on the blacks in Rwanda but helped the whites in Kosovo?
As Marvin Gaye would sing, "What's Going On?"
Recently, Hillary Clinton tried to pop Obama's popularity balloon by saying, "it wasn’t the hope that King inspired that made the difference but President Lyndon Johnson’s decision to fight for and sign the Civil Rights Act into law." So Hillary thinks MLK didn't make a difference?
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. inspired America back in the 1960s and ever since. He's a hero to my wife and I and our two teenagers. It is disappointing, but should not be surprising, that Hillary recently diminished Martin Luther King’s role in history for political gain.
However, that transgression pales in comparison to what the Clintons did to the victims of the Rwanda Genocide in 1994. You may recall the over 800,000 blacks were butchered in 100 days. The US, led by Bill Clinton, were obligated to intervene under a 1948 UN Genocide Convention.
What was the Clinton response to this madness?
They voted to withdraw UN troops and, mindful of their UN obligation, claimed there were “acts of genocide” in Rwanda but it was not genocide, technically. If ever there was a time for Hillary to her feminist hat on and disagree with Bill publicly – it would be to stop a genocide that was killing 56,000 blacks each week she waited.
Ironically, Bill, the nation’s "first black President" sidestepped the UN to stop the ethnic cleansing of whites in Kosovo but did nothing to stop the ethnic cleansing of blacks in Rwanda.
Please don’t ignore my comments because you think I’m one of thousands of "anti-Clinton freaks” complaining about the Clintons again. Denying genocide is a serious issue and should be addressed in this campaign and in our country.
Both the Clintons, other 1994 world leaders and the 1994 U.S. media are to blame for abandoning Rwanda. Will the 2008 media make the same mistake? Perhaps the reason it doesn't get much media attention today is that many senior members of the media today did nothing in 1994, feel bad about it and do not want to start pointing fingers lest one get pointed back at them.
However, the only way to heal our national wounds over this issue is to take off the dirty bandage we put over it, thereby exposing the ugliness of the leaders who did nothing, wash the wound by holding those leaders accountable and put a new Band-Aid on by making sure we intervene in African genocides, including Darfur, even if the UN does nothing. It is the only way for our wounds and our soul to heal.
The media has a choice - help America remember the Rwanda Genocide or, help America forget the Rwanda Genocide?
Remember Rwanda by holding the Clintons accountable.
Hillary cried recently, in public, on the day before the NH primary - where polls indicated she was going to lose big time. Why? She says it’s because she was afraid, “we would fall backward”. Hillary thinks Obama would let us fall backward? Like most Americans, I was inspired by Obama’s speech – not driven to tears. Matt Lauer pondered whether she was crying because a dream she’s had for 30 years, to become the first woman President, was slipping away.
Rush recently reported that Jesse Jackson's son wondered why Hillary didn't cry during Katrina. Interesting point - why hasn’t she cried during other sad events? For me, Katrina is a poor example. Katrina affected households with 9 million people and yet only 1,836 died. If the U.S. Coast Guard hadn't rescued 30,000 from New Orleans' roof tops, Katrina's death toll could have been a lot worse.
For the victims of the 1994 Rwanda Genocide, our government's response could not have been worse. Bill failed his UN obligation to intervene and stop the murder of 56,000 blacks per week - a murder rate 5 times the Holocaust.
For 100 days, Hillary was silent while hundreds of thousands of women were raped & 800,000 blacks were butchered to death.
If ever there was an occasion to cry for others, it was after watching the bloated, hacked body parts of innocent women and children clog up the narrow parts of the Kagera River. I remember crying and I have rarely cried. I'm a big guy and father of two and I remember walking down the street, in 1994, and I saw the news footage on a TV in a store front and I cried. Strangers were watching me cry on the street.
We never saw Hillary cry, publicly, about Rwanda. I believe she cared about the victims of one of mankind's worst genocides but she hid those tears because Bill was leader of the free world and had turned his back on Rwanda. She says now that she did encourage Bill to intervene in Rwanda - so she knew what was happening there - but we never saw her put her feminist hat on and disagree with her husband publicly. If she had spoke out, hundreds of thousands may have been saved.
So, now that you have some background, I have some questions:
Why didn't she speak out?
Why did the U.S. media believe the Clintons for 100 days that 56,000 murdered Tutsis a week is not genocide?
Why is the outrage among our black leaders?
Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened. - Sir Winston Churchill.
My daughter recently asked her MMU high school history teacher why no one talked about the 1994 Rwanda Genocide during the 2008 Presidential campaign. “It's a private matter", he said. My daughter and I thought that the Rwanda Genocide should be remembered for the same reasons as the Holocaust. For those who forgot a tragedy many would like to forget, let's recap.
On April 6, 1994, a plane carrying the Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi was shot down and government-backed Hutu extremists began a planned slaughter of Rwanda's Tutsi population. Most of the killing was done by roving bands of thugs who would surround Tutsis and hack them to death.
Over 800,000 blacks were butchered at a murder rate 5 times the Holocaust.
The Hutus killed so many that narrow parts of Kagera River clogged with bloated hacked body parts. Romeo Dallaire, commander of UN Rwanda, described how one Hutu thug threw a Tutsi baby down a well. When the Hutu heard the baby crying, he threw rocks down the well until the crying stopped. Churches were found with piles of corpses 6 ft high inside. Another report said a Hutu mayor gathered 45,000 Tutsis at a college for "shelter" only to slaughter them all within four days.
Try to imagine, if you can, 45,000 people killed in four days.
What was Clinton's response to this madness? Use those famous political skills to rally support among the American people? Nope – the Clintons thought if they didn't call it genocide, the US might avoid its UN obligation to intervene under the 1948 Genocide Convention. They admitted “acts of genocide” have occurred, but insisted it was not technically genocide. Incredibly, they succeeded.
In 1999, a UN report said “A force numbering 2,500 should have been able to stop…” the killing. The US has a proud tradition of using its super power to step in. We’ve stopped aggression by Hitler, Japan, Soviet Union, Saddam, etc… However, the US, led by Bill Clinton, failed in Rwanda.
My daughter and I would like to see a woman president – but not Hillary. There must be accountability and justice for the murdered victims of Rwanda. Madeline Albright was promoted to Secretary of State, Kofi Annan was promoted to U.N. Secretary-General, Bill was re-elected in 1996 and now Hillary wants to be President – even though they let hundreds of thousands die to protect their careers.
This is not justice - it is the opposite of justice.
Ironically, Bill was later crowned "nation's first black President" and honored by the Congressional Black Caucus. Recently, over 60 black Baptist ministers announced their support for Hillary and civil rights leader Andrew Young said Bill was "blacker than Obama because Bill's been with more black women".
How can a civil-rights leader overlook Clinton’s failure to stop the slaughter of 800,000 blacks but pay attention to the race of who sleeps with the former President?
Hillary often says her First Lady experience sets her apart. She’s right, if Barack was married to the leader of the free world, and that leader did not intervene to stop genocide in Rwanda (black Africans) but did stop ethnic cleansing in Kosovo (white Europeans) Barack would have spoke up – big time.
The Clintons failed their UN obligation to stop one of mankind’s worst genocides. No amount of African charity work or Iowa newspaper endorsements can make up for that.
Now that you know the truth, will you “hurry off as if nothing ever happened?”
Posts
All Comments
