![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1){kind=small}
(no subject)
When I heard about the Ugandan anti-gay bill I felt sick to my stomach. It wasn't the fact that it's now law that being gay or HIV positive or being associated with someone gay or HIV positive is either a jail sentence or an execution in Uganda. To be honest, the law part doesn't make any difference to me. Genocide has been going on for ages on the African continent. Not just to homosexuals, either. Genocide to 'not-quite-pure'(aka somewhat Belgian) Africans was the response to the Belgians colonizing the dark continent.
That's never made the news. The fact that there's a genocide going on in the Sudan and Uganda right now that targets 5 year old boys, throwing them into burning huts (ovens, anyone?) if their noses are too wide(which means they aren't pure Africans) has never entered into anything besides a blip on the margin of your newspaper. This shit has been going on for over twenty years. Yes, it's genocide. Colin Powell once called it the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time. But it wasn't important enough to inform the American public.
Not that it would make any difference. Finally, some African genocide makes the papers just because it involves homosexuals. Don't get me wrong, I beat the gay rights drum. But why the fuck did it take 25 years for America to go 'OH! That's fucked up! We're outraged, and we should do something about it!"? We've known, at least since 1994, that shit wasn't right on the continent.
That was Rwanda, and all the American public did was sigh and go back to eating their dinners. Why now? Why do we shit our pants now? In 2003, with the release of Invisible Children (targeted toward high school-college students, a smart move, since passion about social justice is most alive in the young) we found out about child soldiers. What have we done since then? "Oh, that sucks. Let's go to Wendy's for dinner tonight."
Are you fucking kidding me? We're talking about 5 year olds being emotionally, physically, and sexually abused to a severe intensity. "Well...it's not my country" is a pretty fucking shallow excuse for not doing...anything. And don't overestimate my naivety. I know there are no easy solutions.
I know people can feel helpless and think 'well, what the hell can I do?' You're right. This is a big problem, and I don't have the answer. But it seems that there's more outrage over gays being legally executed in Uganda than there is over children being burned in huts. Both are equally disgusting. But...why only now are we responding?
Why only now does it matter? If you've known me in the past 6 years, you know that this matters to me and you know the passion for Uganda hasn't left me. I've used facebook, myspace, and various blogs to raise awareness about the genocides going on in a few African countries. But up until now I was chastised for being 'too passionate' and 'too naive' to think anything can be done about a 23 year old 'war'. We should just sit on our asses, and let them all die off. Africa's a disposable continent- that's the attitude I got.
After all, it's not...my country. Are we really so selfish that no one but our own people matter? Maybe it's a good thing that the American public now knows the extent of the genocide in Uganda. It's definitely a good thing that more Americans seem to care. But if it extends beyond the 'gays being executed' issue, albiet an important one, will people give a fuck? It seems they'll switch back, remember the fact that Africans are hopeless and disposable, good for no more than calming our desire for an ego boost after a monthly gift to Feed The Hungry International.
Throwing rice at Africa isn't going to do shit - we need to do more. Thankfully people are seeing that now. Two questions remain - what are we going to do and will we care long enough to do it?
That's never made the news. The fact that there's a genocide going on in the Sudan and Uganda right now that targets 5 year old boys, throwing them into burning huts (ovens, anyone?) if their noses are too wide(which means they aren't pure Africans) has never entered into anything besides a blip on the margin of your newspaper. This shit has been going on for over twenty years. Yes, it's genocide. Colin Powell once called it the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time. But it wasn't important enough to inform the American public.
Not that it would make any difference. Finally, some African genocide makes the papers just because it involves homosexuals. Don't get me wrong, I beat the gay rights drum. But why the fuck did it take 25 years for America to go 'OH! That's fucked up! We're outraged, and we should do something about it!"? We've known, at least since 1994, that shit wasn't right on the continent.
That was Rwanda, and all the American public did was sigh and go back to eating their dinners. Why now? Why do we shit our pants now? In 2003, with the release of Invisible Children (targeted toward high school-college students, a smart move, since passion about social justice is most alive in the young) we found out about child soldiers. What have we done since then? "Oh, that sucks. Let's go to Wendy's for dinner tonight."
Are you fucking kidding me? We're talking about 5 year olds being emotionally, physically, and sexually abused to a severe intensity. "Well...it's not my country" is a pretty fucking shallow excuse for not doing...anything. And don't overestimate my naivety. I know there are no easy solutions.
I know people can feel helpless and think 'well, what the hell can I do?' You're right. This is a big problem, and I don't have the answer. But it seems that there's more outrage over gays being legally executed in Uganda than there is over children being burned in huts. Both are equally disgusting. But...why only now are we responding?
Why only now does it matter? If you've known me in the past 6 years, you know that this matters to me and you know the passion for Uganda hasn't left me. I've used facebook, myspace, and various blogs to raise awareness about the genocides going on in a few African countries. But up until now I was chastised for being 'too passionate' and 'too naive' to think anything can be done about a 23 year old 'war'. We should just sit on our asses, and let them all die off. Africa's a disposable continent- that's the attitude I got.
After all, it's not...my country. Are we really so selfish that no one but our own people matter? Maybe it's a good thing that the American public now knows the extent of the genocide in Uganda. It's definitely a good thing that more Americans seem to care. But if it extends beyond the 'gays being executed' issue, albiet an important one, will people give a fuck? It seems they'll switch back, remember the fact that Africans are hopeless and disposable, good for no more than calming our desire for an ego boost after a monthly gift to Feed The Hungry International.
Throwing rice at Africa isn't going to do shit - we need to do more. Thankfully people are seeing that now. Two questions remain - what are we going to do and will we care long enough to do it?
blah
amused