[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 57 (Tuesday, April 8, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H3042-H3044]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    REMEMBERING THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2013, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Meeks) is recognized 
for the remainder of the time as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Cleaver for giving his voice of 
remembrance, his voice of comfort, his voice of concern, his voice that 
says this terrible genocide shall never happen again, nor should 
anybody who is of the human species sit back and allow such a tragedy 
to occur as what happened 20 years ago when, simply because of being a 
member of a different tribe, people were killed.
  When I visited Rwanda, I had the opportunity to go to the museum 
where memorials were set up, but you saw the remains, the bones, of a 
number of individuals that were slaughtered, and you also learned the 
history of what took place in Rwanda, how the people were taught, 
especially during colonization, to make one feel that they were better 
than the other and one should rule over the other. And it went on to 
such a time when people started to cry out for equality and democracy 
moving on, and just because they happened to be of a different tribe, 
the Hutu majority, to terminate the Tutsi ethnic group.
  Tragedy. Husbands turning in their wives, wives turning in their 
husbands where there were mixed groups, feeling one was superior to the 
other. Tragedy. Yet, the global community sat silently on the 
sidelines--sat silently on the sidelines.
  Mr. Speaker, at this time, before I say more, I see the distinguished 
gentleman from the great State of Illinois and the city of Chicago, and 
I yield to the Honorable Danny Davis.
  Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. I thank the gentleman very much.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my good friend from New York, 
Representative Gregory Meeks not only for yielding, not only for being 
engaged in this discussion, but for the tremendous amount of time, 
energy, and effort that he spends dealing with international issues, 
recognizing that every day, as we see the increases in technology and 
our ability to communicate more effectively with other people across 
the world, how small and how much smaller our world is becoming, so 
things that may have been considered far away are now much closer to 
our everyday existence. So I thank the gentleman for his leadership.
  I also want to commend Representative Emanuel Cleaver and our whip 
for convening this session. As I listened to Representative Cleaver 
give a bit of the history of Rwanda, I was actually glued to the 
television set and felt immobilized that I couldn't or didn't want to 
move. And to think that during the last two decades we would 
experience, in our modern-day world, such horrific actions as that 
which we are

[[Page H3043]]

commemorating and remembering here today some 20 years later, to think 
that the international community sat by, watched, discussed, but didn't 
move, wouldn't move, couldn't move, and watched 800,000 people, and 
perhaps even more, be annihilated, wiped out, to see them experience 
some of the most horrific actions that could be taken against a people. 
I guess the whole lot of us share in the blame because we saw it, 
didn't move on it, couldn't find a way to bring world interest, world 
concerns together to stop it or prevent it before all of these people 
had lost their lives. And so, yes, it is shame on our world, and all of 
us must take some of the responsibility and share in the blame.
  When a tragedy is occurring to some of us, it really affects, in a 
way, all of us. When a government is unable or unwilling to protect its 
people, then it becomes a world issue, and the rest of us have the 
responsibility to step in. And as much as some of us abhor war and as 
much as we know that it is not the best utilization to get involved in 
warlike activity that is unnecessary, I think that there are some 
things that you just can't let go without doing whatever it is that you 
can do.
  So I hope that our world is saying that never, ever again will we 
stand by and let such as this take place, that never, ever again will 
we be immobilized and wondering about what to do or can we do or should 
we do. We know that something must be done.
  So, Greg, again, I thank you for not only yielding, but I thank you 
for your leadership on international affairs which helps us to know 
that, yes, we can be our brothers' keepers. And our brothers don't have 
to be just across the street--they can be across the ocean; they can be 
across the continent; they can be in other lands--because all of us are 
joined together as a part of the mutual elements of our world. So I 
thank you for your leadership.
  Mr. Speaker, according to the Outreach Programmee on the Rwanda 
Genocide and the United Nations reported that between April and June of 
1994, as the international community watched, more than 800,000 
Rwandans, mostly ethnic Tutsi, were massacred by Hutu militia and 
government forces over a period of just 100 days. The killings began 
the day after a plane carrying the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi was 
shot down as it prepared to land in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. The 
presidents were returning from peace talks aimed at shoring up a 
fragile peace agreement and ending the conflict between the largely 
ethnic Hutu-dominated government and the largely Tutsi rebel army. The 
crash re-ignited the war. Retreating government forces joined ethnic 
Hutu militia in inciting civilians to kill ethnic Tutsis. They alleged 
that civilians were helping the Tutsi rebels and used this to justify 
the mass targeting of innocent peoples. A small peacekeeping force 
which had been sent by the United Nations to monitor the peace accord 
was not authorized to intervene. A warning that genocide was planned 
was not acted upon. Today, the effects of the genocide in Rwanda are 
still felt in many different ways both inside the country and in 
neighboring states, including in the eastern regions of the Democratic 
Republic of the Congo, where large areas of South Kivu province are 
still controlled by Hutu militia from Rwanda and their local allies. 
Alongside other fighters in the Congo war, they continue to commit 
serious human rights violations, including abductions, killings and 
rape. Sexual violence, particularly against women and children, is 
widespread.
  This week marks the 20th year anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide. 
Since this genocide, certain concepts and initiatives have come forward 
by the international community that when a nation fails to protect its 
citizens or people the responsibility relies upon the international 
community to step in to stop the killing of people.
  Mr. MEEKS. I want to thank the gentleman from Illinois, from the 
great city of Chicago, who long before he came to Congress, as a member 
of the Chicago City Council, spoke truth to power. And the words he has 
just articulated, that we should never forget that we will make sure 
that we are our brothers' keeper, that we need not have what I would 
call a gang mentality ourselves, that simply because someone is away 
across the ocean, may not look like some of us look, may not talk or 
speak the way we speak, that when we see evil, we won't stand silently 
by. We will stand against it and fight.
  Dr. King once said that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice 
everywhere, and so it is that evil anywhere is a threat to all of us 
everywhere.
  Yesterday, Rwanda launched a week of official mourning to commemorate 
the 20th anniversary of the genocide which left 800,000 people dead and 
changed the face of a nation forever, and I want the people of Rwanda 
to know that I stand in solidarity with them during this week of 
mourning. But I will also stand with them next week, and I will stand 
with them the week after that, and I will stand with them the week 
after, because what happened during the spring and summer of 1994 is 
too important to be mourned only on an anniversary.
  The tragic consequences of ethnic hatred and violence must never be 
forgotten, for we must never allow the events of 1994 to be repeated--
not in Rwanda or anywhere else. We must, once and for all, put all 
racial and ethnic strife behind us as we strive for a better and a 
brighter future for our children and grandchildren.
  Mr. Speaker, we have, in this Chamber today, one whose voice has 
always spoken about justice, one whose actions were to feed those who 
were hungry, clothe those who had no clothes, and put a roof over the 
head of those who were homeless. We have in the Chamber today, Mr. 
Speaker, an individual who didn't sit idly by and quietly when he saw 
injustices take place here in America. He stood up and was counted for. 
He wasn't silent and inactive as, unfortunately, the world was in 1994. 
He stood up. He put his life on the line and said: I must have a voice 
for the voiceless. He is an American hero whom I, with pleasure, am 
able to tell my children that I serve in the United States House of 
Representatives with an American hero, an American icon. I yield to the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Rush), an icon, a true American hero, a 
fighter for justice, and a man who is committed to Almighty God.

                              {time}  1830

  Mr. RUSH. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from New York 
who not only has yielded me some time to speak on this issue, but I 
just want to observe that he has been one of the most remarkable 
persons to ever serve in this House, this exalted House of 
Representatives. He is a man who has made enormous contributions to the 
plight of those who need a voice, to those who need a heart, to those 
who need a spirit that will fight for them where they cannot fight for 
themselves. I know that Congressman Gregory Meeks has stood the test of 
the opposition to those who are denied human rights anywhere in the 
world, and I am so honored that he will allow me a few minutes to share 
with the Nation the sadness of the hour, but also to celebrate the 
resurgence of the Rwanda people.
  The sadness of the hour is we come to the floor today, Mr. Speaker, 
to commemorate a very salient and sober observance. As was indicated by 
prior speakers, just 20 years ago this week the world witnessed one of 
the worst acts of violence since the end of World War II. It unfolded 
before our very eyes. Most of us can recall where we were, what we were 
doing, the life that we lived just 20 years ago.
  Mr. Speaker, I am right now referring to the outbreak of violence 
just 20 years ago in a place that most of us had never heard of, a 
place called Rwanda. And now this place, Rwanda, is written in our 
psyches as one of the horror stories of our lives of our time. This 
outbreak of violence in Rwanda ultimately led to the death of over 
800,000 ordinary men, women, boys, and girls. This is an atrocity that 
has been appropriately labeled and called and will go down in history 
as the Rwanda genocide. Just that word ``genocide'' should give us all 
pause, and all should strike an attentive ear whenever we hear that 
word ``genocide'' because the images that are conjured up in our minds 
are images of some of the most horrendous acts of man's inhumanity to 
man, of human's inhumanity to human beings.
  Since the time of the Rwanda genocide, I want to congratulate the 
decent people, the justice-seeking people, the honorable people of 
Rwanda who have made great strides to rebuild their lives and to 
rebuild their country, to heal the deep, biting wounds, and to move 
forward as a nation.
  Today, Mr. Speaker, Rwanda is being led by a President that 20 years 
ago would have been unimaginable, an ethnic Tutsi. President Paul 
Kagame has,

[[Page H3044]]

for the past 14 years, overseen Rwanda's rebirth and has made the world 
proud of Rwanda's incredible resurrection and progress.
  At yesterday's memorial service in Rwanda, he offered these simple 
words of everlasting hope:

       As we pay tribute to the victims, both the living and those 
     who have passed, we also salute the unbreakable Rwandan 
     spirit.

  Mr. Speaker, I, too, salute the Rwandan spirit and applaud the 
Rwandan people on just how far they have come in just a few years, just 
20 years. At the same time that I applaud the Rwandan people, I 
admonish, I encourage, I plead, I ask, I beg the International Criminal 
Tribunal for Rwanda to continue their quest for justice and to bring 
those to trial, those who have, up to now, escaped the might of justice 
and the appeal of justice-seeking people throughout the world.
  At the same time, Mr. Speaker, I must remind our own government that 
in 1994 we stood on this floor, in this Congress, in this Capitol, in 
this Nation, and we promised ourselves, we promised the world, we 
promised anyone who had ears to hear, that we would never, ever again 
allow such brutal violence to occur anywhere else in the world, that we 
had finally learned our lesson and that we would never have to relearn 
this awesome and brutal lesson. And yet, Mr. Speaker, we still see the 
same thing occurring, the same atrocities, the same murders and rapes, 
the same pillaging, the same acts of inhumane treatment toward fellow 
human beings. We bear witness that this same thing is again happening 
all over our world.
  Whether Syria or South Sudan, our Nation, the United States of 
America, the American people, and the entire global community must rise 
up and stand up shoulder to shoulder and ensure that humanitarian 
rights are protected all over this world. As we have witnessed in 
Rwanda, global inaction has already led to genocide. Global inaction 
will always lead to genocide. We simply cannot idly stand by and allow 
genocide to continue in our world.
  Mr. Speaker, I must close with a quote from the English poet John 
Donne, who said:

       Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in 
     mankind.

  I want to paraphrase Mr. Donne's quote and say that any human's death 
diminishes me, because I am involved in humankind.
  Again, hats off to you, my honorable and humble colleague from the 
great State of New York. You don't surprise me being the chief sponsor 
of this particular moment in time in the history of this institution 
because, Mr. Meeks, this is just simply another step for you, because 
when it comes to the history and when it comes to justice for people 
throughout the world, it is a step forward, and you are a stepper for 
mankind.
  Mr. MEEKS. Thank you, Mr. Rush. I thank you for having the broad 
shoulders that I stand on and for being here.
  Let me wrap up. Over the last several months, thousands of Rwandans 
have watched as a torch symbolizing the memory of those who perished, 
known as the Flame of Remembrance, was passed hand to hand, village to 
village, across the nation. In a fitting climax to its journey, that 
torch finally arrived yesterday at the National Genocide Memorial 
beneath dark skies and a gentle rain. But the rain did not distinguish 
the flame, nor will it for the next 100 days. The Flame of Remembrance 
will burn in Rwanda's capital of Kigali and remind the world of the 100 
days of violence which marred its streets 20 years ago. Let us work 
together to make sure, Mr. Speaker, that it never happens again and 
that we can live in peace.
  I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________