In the Press...
NJ.com Article N.J. students remember Rwandan genocide with Capitol displayWASHINGTON — The cutouts of human figures stood in neat rows in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol, each decorated by a group of New Jersey middle and high school students paying tribute to 800,000 Rwandans massacred two decades ago. More than 70 such figures, each 5-feet tall, some covered in black with drawings of skulls and others with doves flying in bright blue skies, stood on exhibit in the Rayburn House Office Building here to remember the 100-day period beginning in April 1994 where the majority Hutu slaughtered the minority Tutsi. "We wanted to do something that had an impact," said Susan Yellin of Manalapan, a member of the committee that established the exhibit. President Clinton, visiting a Rwandan memorial site more than a decade later, expressed "regret for my personal failure" as the U.S. did not intervene to stop the slaughter. The United Nations also sat on the sidelines. The killings ended only after a Tutsi-backed force captured control of the country in July 1994. High school students in Wall Township painted a picture of a woman in a long skirt. On the other side of the figure was a child she was hiding. Another figure, by students at Christa McAuliffe Middle School in Jackson, featured doves against a bright blue sky on one side and victims in darkness on the other side with a quote, "Human life is not meant to be abused." The Center for Holocaust, Human Rights and Genocide Education at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft designed the project to commemorate the massacre. The figures themselves were decorated by students who weren't born when it occurred. About 450 students participated, organizers said. "We needed a way to engage the kids," said Dale Daniels, executive director of the center, "They were all born after the genocide and had no knowledge of it." The exhibit was brought to Washington by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-4th Dist.), who escorted fellow House members and other visitors around the figures. "You need to remember the past to prevent such things from happening in the future," Smith said. "This was a preventable genocide. It truly has to be never again." |