Observations
Dustin White

Spread out across my desk, and spilling onto the floor, are books on genocide. Spanning many decades, the works detail the decimation of multiple groups throughout history.

The readings can be quite depressing. Reading about case after case of individuals being persecuted for a variety of different reasons; whether it be the color of one’s skin, a chosen religion, group one is born into, or a host of other ideas that supposedly separate individuals into a dual system of us versus them.

While the information can be difficult to work through, I believe it is something important to become familiar with. The acts compose pieces of history that shouldn’t be forgotten.



Often, such atrocities can seem distant: from another time, another place. However, many are closer than one may think.

Within the past of our own country, a widespread genocide was waged against the native people of North America, that continued into the 20th century.

While the genocide of American Indians may not have always resulted in the mass extermination of their people, it often occurred through the idea of “kill the savage, save the man,” where American Indians would be forced to assimilate. The purpose was to civilize American Indians, which in the process, destroyed their cultures.

Over the years, such destruction has been acknowledged to a point, and in some instances, strides to make the matter better have been implemented. However, it is also a subject that is often ignored, preventing individuals from learning from the past.

Other genocides also have struck close to home. The Bosnian Genocide is a prime example.

Occurring just two decades ago, it was called the greatest failure of the west since the 1930s.

200,000 Muslims would be systematically exterminated, by the hands of Christian Serbs. Millions would be displaced, and large mass exoduses would occur. In the United States, the acceptance of thousands of refugees would bring the genocide much closer to home.

Today, such atrocities continue to occur. In areas such as Syria, Sudan and North Korea, life revolves around such evils.

It becomes easy to ignore such occurrences, as they appear to be in foreign lands, detached from our own lives. But as with the Bosnian Genocide, they often are much closer.

While a portion of the closeness comes from the acceptance of refugees into our own country, many of our soldiers and peace workers are deployed in such areas, to help as they may.



Remembering such events, as well as acknowledging those that continue today, is not necessarily meant to demonize all of those involved, but instead, to understand.

Going back to the Bosnian Genocide, the fact that the atrocious acts were committed by Christians does not mean that all Christians are evil, or that they should be feared. Instead, it means the world isn’t black and white; there is a lot of gray area. That gray area often needs a good deal of exploration.

That understanding may help to prevent future genocides, or at least when such atrocities happen, as they are today, maybe it will convince others to reach out a hand, and help those in need.