Prejudice And Racism In Rwanda

One of the main methods, present often in the film, that was used by the Hutu power organizations to demonize the Tutsi in the eyes of their Hutu neighbors was radio broadcasts. As mentioned earlier, the RTLM was a Hutu power radio that was a wide-spread form of communication that reached the ears of almost all Rwandans that had access to a radio. These broadcasts were the main mobilization tool for encouraging Hutus to rise up against their Tutsi oppressors. However, they were not often explicit in their calls to violence and demolition. Tutsis became associated with other labels, most commonly cockroaches and trees, that were used to allude to the ethnic group in order to both be somewhat discrete and to let the Tutsi know that they were considered less than human in the eyes of the
Racism also played a major role in the responses of global organizations and other countries, or lack thereof, during Rwanda’s time of crisis. Perhaps the most prominent example from the film is an exchange between Colonel Oliver of the United Nations, based on the real-life Canadian Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire of the UNAMIR peace keeping force, and Rusesabagina. When Colonel Oliver and his troops are escorting foreign visitors safely from the hotel to the airport and Rusesabagina asks why they will not take Rwandans as well, Oliver responds, “You’re dirt. We think you’re dirt, Paul… The West. All the super powers. Everything you believe in, Paul. They think you’re dirt. They think you’re dumb. You’re worthless…You're black. You're not even a nigger. You're an African.” Seeing as there were UN troops on the ground in Kigali in the spring of 1994 and the genocide continued without any real response or substantial reaction, it is clear that the international community, while acknowledging the atrocities being committed in Rwanda, barely made any moves to intervene or help the people of