But I mean, we elected a black president, so we're all good

My hours at Davis library (I know, be jealous) have been spent reading countless accounts and critical discussions of the genocide for our paper due in a few weeks for one of my Rwandan classes. And I keep finding parallels between the ethnic identity and race in Rwanda and here at home; which is think stems a lot from the desire to see yourself in other people’s lives and to find that connection even if its just a glimmer. But while we’ve studied how ethnic tensions, inequalities, and a constant mantra of racial superiority between Hutu and Tutsi has been going on for years and how sad it is that its still evident today in Rwanda—it happens here at home on a daily basis if anyone wanted to acknowledge it. Sure, I’m not saying that the US is on the brink of a genocide against minorities, but how would race relations be different here if the economy truly was destroyed, if the wars we’re involved in suddenly created mass US troop casualties (probably of which no one would care about if another famous pop singer dies…) and unemployment rose to catastrophic highs?

Given a few situational alterations, I don’t think we are much different than Rwandans. How easy little comments slide by in everyday conversation—a neighbor’s upset objection to their daughter’s pot luck black roommate for college, the idea that “race relations” in churches is a waste of resources which could be better spent on a rocket ship-like bell tower, and the issue of self segregation in schools, colleges, faculty lounges (Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?).

I was watching American History X a few days ago and one of Edward Norton’s early speeches in the movie as a white supremacist was incredibly unsettling (starts at time 5:30). Not because it was horrifying, disgusting, or incredibly violent, but because I had heard that same speech so many times before. Take away the shaved head, the tattoos, built physique, a few F words, and put Edward in a suit and he’d be a pretty average talk show guest on CNN or Fox News discussing how minorities are taking away jobs, illegal immigrants are burdening the system, and how the white man has to pay for these things.

This isn’t happening just far away, in a remote village in Africa.