Acceptable hate. Allowable hate. Sanctioned hate. Legal hate. Mandated hate. What’s the flavor of the day?

Members of Nevada Desert Experience hold a prayer vigil during the Easter period of 1982 at the entrance to the Nevada Test Site. In the public domain. Author: National Nuclear Security Administration / Nevada Site Office.

By Rev. Doe West

I have been giving honest contemplation to sponsored hate throughout my life.

A kickover moment came when I posted something on Facebook about the POTUS using the word “animals” to describe immigrants and received a reply pointing out that he was applying that term very specifically to gang members, not all immigrants.

I get it, but that leads me to more questions:

  • should we ever allow this level of dehumanizing towards any human being?
  • Is it okay to dehumanize those who dehumanize others?
  • What does it do for ourselves, our society, humanity, to make hatred and dehumanization acceptable, even mandated?

Culturally acceptable ways to denigrate any group become signposts for directing our hate–sometimes literally, as in “no Irish,” “no Italians,” “no Chinese,” “no Colored.” People have found countless ways to communicate how and when and whom to hate.

Tragically, religious beliefs cannot be trusted to assure mercy, grace, and love, or lead society to higher ground.

On one hand, Father James Martin, SJ, a Jesuit priest, pulls no punches: “Calling people animals is sinful.  Every human being has infinite dignity.  Moreover, this is the same kind of language that led to the extermination of Jews (”vermin”) in Germany and of Tutsi (“cockroaches”) in Rwanda.  This kind of language cannot be normalized.  It is a grave sin.”

On the other hand, the most radicalized right religious of any faith consider anyone they hate to personify  sin and to be exterminated in the name of their God.

If God is not a safe covering for peace – if language can be easily swung from tool to weapon – if it all comes down to individual belief and personally comfortable boundaries, who is safe?  And who or what becomes a place of hope?  Is there no clear rallying cry or unifying moral understanding that we can count on to help us all rise to higher ground together?

Personally, I am holding space for hope, and I am working daily to help shape our culture by my words and actions.  Today, I will use the words from the Old Testament of the Judeo-Christian text as I did in the ‘60s, when I worked for peace and justice, and as I continue to do today:

“And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” (Isaiah 2:4)

“Never again”: A report from Rwanda

[Note from Kathie Malley-Morrison:  Today’s post is part of an ongoing series by Andrew Potter, reporting from Rwanda where he is working on a documentary film about his experience.]

Writing on Rwandan brick wall: "Never Again"
Photo by Andrew Potter

I am experiencing this country with fresh eyes and an informed perspective.  I am encouraged by the balance that seems to have been achieved here.

Nathan and I have visited a number of local schools and are awed by the students’ intelligence and excellent grasp of the English language.

Two days ago we toured a genocide memorial at the site where over 10,000 Tutsis were massacred. This was a very visceral experience, one that was extremely difficult to digest. A description will have to suffice because photography was not permitted.

We entered a church, the same church where thousands of Tutsis had attempted to seek refuge. Walking into the church is like stepping onto a crime scene. Everything is freshly preserved. The pews of the church are piled with mounds of cloths from the dead.

In the underbelly of the church is a coffin holding the body of a Tutsi lady who was raped 15 times before she was brutally murdered. The ceiling is covered in bloodstains and bullet holes. It was an absolutely chilling scene.

I feel that this was incredibly important to witness first hand. It made me realize the severity of what Rwanda is currently attempting to overcome.

In being here I get the sense that people are doing the absolute best they can in the wake of an unspeakable past. In light of this I have shifted the focus of my documentary away from the genocide and reconciliation issues to simply documenting the school we are staying at and the everyday life of the people in this country.

There is a power, simplicity, and beauty in the way people have recovered and how they have achieved so much growth in the past 16 years.

Andrew Potter

Reconciliation in Rwanda

[Note from Kathie Malley-Morrison: Today’s post comes from Andrew Potter, an Engaging Peace intern and regular commenter, and a member of GIPGAP. Andrew will be traveling to Rwanda in early June.]

As many people know, in 1994, Rwanda, in East Africa, was plagued by a 100 day genocide that left more than 800,000 Tutsis (20% of the population) dead and thousands displaced.  Two Hutu militias were primarily responsible; however, the genocide was coordinated by the Hutu national government and the media played a crucial role in urging ordinary Hutu civilians to participate in the slaughter.

Sixteen years have passed since that bloody summer and today Rwanda is described as one of the safest and least corrupt African nations. Nevertheless, Rwanda’s future is uncertain.

Some human rights groups describe Rwanda as “orderly yet repressive,” and wonder if the current government is more a dressed up dictatorship than an authentic democracy.  Kagame (former RPF Tutsi opposition leader) has pulled the country from shambles by using hardline policies, such as shutting down independent media and imprisoning all those who utter the words Tutsi or Hutu in an offensive way.

At this point Rwanda stands at a juncture between its horrific past and the possibility of a promising future. It is my intention to visit Rwanda during the first two weeks of June, equipped with a video camera, in order to document ongoing efforts at reconciliation.

I will be traveling alongside Nathan Felde, chair of the design department at the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University.  We hope to return able to recount the experiences of the Rwandan people in their recovery from genocide.

Andrew Potter

[Note from Kathie Malley-Morrison: Please contribute to Andrew’s trip and documentary work through your Amazon.com purchases. First go to engagingpeace.com and click on the Amazon link in the sidebar. All proceeds coming to Engaging Peace from Amazon.com in May and June will be contributed to Andrew’s trip.]