Tales of a coffee-holic: A blind eye

On April 28, Holocaust Remembrance Day, Jewish communities around the world paused to remember all those who died during this tragic era of the world’s history.

This day’s observance in the midst of a crisis in South Sudan makes me wonder why Americans are so aware of the horrible atrocities that occurred during the Holocaust, but not so about other more recent incidences of genocide around the world.

In the same way that many Americans during WWII didn’t want to believe the harsh reality of the Jewish Holocaust, it’s unseemly and unpleasant to think about the slaughter of innocent people, but if we don’t know anything about it, we won’t do anything about it.

On April 21 the New York Times reported the deaths of hundreds of civilians at the hands of South Sudanese rebels in the town of Bentiu. The rebels reportedly separated the residents of the town by ethnicity and nationality and killed those who were not ethnic Nuers, like themselves. They also reportedly killed other Nuers who did not support them.

Its estimated that at least 400 people were killed in the town, according to a Reuters report. Rebels used local radio broadcasts to spread hate speech and to encourage sexual violence against women from other communities, the report stated.

Many reports indicate that thousands of people may have died in South Sudan since violence began in December when President Salva Kiir, a Dinka, accused rebel leader Riek Machar, a Nuer, of attempting to overthrow him. More than one million people are thought to be displaced in the country. There are also worries that because so many are seeking refuge from slaughter away from their homes that the farmers of South Sudan will miss planting season and a famine will ensue.

The Daily Beast suggested that the United States could take steps to prevent full blown genocide, in a April 29 article. The author asked the United States to persuade a deployment of international forces to South Sudan to protect civilians.

The article also mentions what the author sees as the failings of the international community to stop genocide in Rwanda and Darfur. The United Human Rights Council says that around 800,000 people died in the Rwandan genocide in the early 1990s. Other reports indicate that almost 500,000 people have been killed through genocide in Darfur.

I’m not sure why we don’t look at current acts of genocide the same as those during WWII. It’s true that most Americans have more of a cultural connection to the Jewish people of Europe. It’s also true that the scale of the Jewish Holocaust was much larger than any since that time. Between five and six million people were killed, including Gypsies and other “undesirables.” This is a staggering number. However, even if the numbers of people being killed through ethnic cleansing now are far fewer, the overall number means nothing to children who lost their parents, husbands who lost their wives or the one survivor from a village who lost all those she knew and cared for.

When large groups of people are killed anywhere in the world simply because of their ethnic background, the world can’t stand idly by and allow it to happen.