Hotel Rwanda

For some reason, i am fraught with a sense of shame as i nibbled on my sandwich just as the ending credits of the movie Hotel Rwanda scrolled down the screen of my television set. A line from the movie reverberated in my head -

"How could people not intervene upon seeing the images of these atrocities?"
"Believe me, most people would respond by exclaiming 'Ohh how horrible!' and then resumed their dinner."

I must confess, i know little if not nothing about the Rwanda genocide in 1994. The Hutus and Tutsis stirred nothing in my memory, i was and still am oblivious and ignorant to the savagery of the world. Perhaps what scared me most was the fact that this gory annihilation took place barely a decade ago, it is hard for me to imagine that 800,000 Rwandans were brutally murdered because of an ethnic discord. I am fortunate to have been raised in a society where racial discrimination is minimal and ethnic harmony prevalent. (correct me if you think otherwise) In my opinion, most of the problems in the world stem from discrimination of sorts. Racial, social, gender and the list goes on. Excuse me when i say little minds discriminate, discrimination is bigotry. We laughed when Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality was pressured to say World Peace at the end of her speech, these days world peace seems almost cliche. I cannot help but think that there must be something we can do. The answer screams out to me - Stop Racism! Hotel Rwanda captured the reality of the ethnic cleansing that happened and perhaps is still happening in some parts of the world. Watch it and be moved. It is real.