Hannah W.
Artist's statement:
Genocide is a horrifying act that has been committed throughout all of history. While we may think that, as a society, we have evolved far passed the point of committing crimes such as these. The shocking reality is that it still happens even today. A popular example is the Holocaust, which occurred during WWII and was responsible for the killing of over six million people. This is not the only example, however. During the 1970's, around the end of the Vietnam war, few knew of the genocide happening to the Cambodians by the Khmer Rouge. This killed two million people. In the 1980's, Saddam Hussein helped to kill over ten thousand Kurds with chemicals. In 1992, many of the Bosnian Serbs of Bosnia-Hurzegovina managed to kill over eight thousand innocent Muslims in concentration camps. Barely a year later, in 1993, eight hundred thousand innocent members of the Tutsi tribe were murdered due to a tribal rivalry with the Hutus. These horrifying acts were all committed because the leaders believed that they were just committing an "ethnic cleansing." Though it may seem ridiculous that such things could occur in our modern society, the fact is that they are, and they only way we can do something about it is to stand together as a society and raise awareness in all forms possible.
Genocide is a horrifying act that has been committed throughout all of history. While we may think that, as a society, we have evolved far passed the point of committing crimes such as these. The shocking reality is that it still happens even today. A popular example is the Holocaust, which occurred during WWII and was responsible for the killing of over six million people. This is not the only example, however. During the 1970's, around the end of the Vietnam war, few knew of the genocide happening to the Cambodians by the Khmer Rouge. This killed two million people. In the 1980's, Saddam Hussein helped to kill over ten thousand Kurds with chemicals. In 1992, many of the Bosnian Serbs of Bosnia-Hurzegovina managed to kill over eight thousand innocent Muslims in concentration camps. Barely a year later, in 1993, eight hundred thousand innocent members of the Tutsi tribe were murdered due to a tribal rivalry with the Hutus. These horrifying acts were all committed because the leaders believed that they were just committing an "ethnic cleansing." Though it may seem ridiculous that such things could occur in our modern society, the fact is that they are, and they only way we can do something about it is to stand together as a society and raise awareness in all forms possible.
Peach G.
“So called ‘Ethnic Cleansing’...signifies mass killing, mass relocation, and that does constitute Genocide.”- Dr. Robert Lifton of CUNY center of violence and human survival. To say Genocide is an atrocity would be a gross understatement. I can’t even begin to delineate ways in which it has impacted humans globally, or even myself personally. When I think of Genocide I picture the Holocaust, but for my project I wanted to broaden my spectrum by thinking outside the box. I began to research Genocide, realizing there are so many more acts than just the Holocaust, which are often underrepresented or go unnoticed due to lack of acknowledgment.
Throughout the duration of our class lesson on Genocide, I not only learned and became more aware of, but started to grasp the concept of some such horrible incidents. Aside from the Holocaust, I learned about wars and Genocide in Darfur, and Cambodia. I found out who Saddam Hussein really was, and understood what wretched things he really did. Lastly, one relevant happening of Genocide I found interesting was that of Rwanda in the mid 90’s. This I can expand upon. I met a man Frederick Ndabaramiye a few years ago. He’s a survivor of Genocide. Tortured by Rebels, he refused to fight a war and kill other people. They forced him to watch as they killed numerous people in front of his eyes. He was forced into a van with a bunch of other people where they were driven to a desolate area. Afterwards they told him to kill everyone who he had driven up there with. He said no, and that they would have to kill him first. They punished him by cutting his hands off, and left him alone to die. He managed to survive and now is a figure as inspirational as Elie Wiesel, both spreading their stories of survival. I decided to use the removal of the Native Americans because in this unique case of Genocide, it occurred on our own {stolen} American soil. Millions of Native Americans were slaughtered, perished of disease, infection, and countless other bleak conditions during their “relocation” or more or less, forced removal from their homelands.
The reason why I was hesitant to chose the Native Americans as my subject for this project, is because it is debatable whether or not the Indian Removal Act could be considered Genocide or not. Though I did receive approval for this project before the conception of my artwork, one could refute the theory of the Indian Removal as Genocide, arguing that this was not an act intended to wipe out an entire specific population in order to eradicate them completely. Rather, we were just trying to relocate, and remove Native Americans from territory that was rightfully ours, not attempting to obliterate their people to terminate their race because of the fact that it marred ours. Still millions of Native Americans died during the Indian Removal/Trail of Tears, only a fraction of their original heritage, tradition, and people left.
For my project, I chose to paint a portrait which depicted an image in my head which could relay my raw feelings towards Genocide. My inspiration for this project was one of the most well known and legendary Native American Chiefs, Sitting Bull. He is considered one of America’s true founding fathers. There is a photograph of him which encompasses the true essence of the strength the Native Americans held. His furrowed brow, traditional hair and feathers, his glossy eyes; A blank stare possessing the power to translate the origin of a remarkable culture. I’ve always admired this photograph, and I wanted to recreate it with my own twists. In this painting, we see the face of Sitting Bull, a face almost expressionless, yet saturated with emotion. Below his head is a skeleton, representing the immense volume of Native American people who died and were left behind. This also represents how little of themselves they retained. They were stripped of everything they knew, leaving them mere shells, skeletons, of their former selves. At the top of the feathers in his hair, there's blood dripping down, symbolizing the slaughter of not only an entire people, but of what made them who they were. Scars those who survived bared mentally; perpetually Broken.
Throughout the duration of our class lesson on Genocide, I not only learned and became more aware of, but started to grasp the concept of some such horrible incidents. Aside from the Holocaust, I learned about wars and Genocide in Darfur, and Cambodia. I found out who Saddam Hussein really was, and understood what wretched things he really did. Lastly, one relevant happening of Genocide I found interesting was that of Rwanda in the mid 90’s. This I can expand upon. I met a man Frederick Ndabaramiye a few years ago. He’s a survivor of Genocide. Tortured by Rebels, he refused to fight a war and kill other people. They forced him to watch as they killed numerous people in front of his eyes. He was forced into a van with a bunch of other people where they were driven to a desolate area. Afterwards they told him to kill everyone who he had driven up there with. He said no, and that they would have to kill him first. They punished him by cutting his hands off, and left him alone to die. He managed to survive and now is a figure as inspirational as Elie Wiesel, both spreading their stories of survival. I decided to use the removal of the Native Americans because in this unique case of Genocide, it occurred on our own {stolen} American soil. Millions of Native Americans were slaughtered, perished of disease, infection, and countless other bleak conditions during their “relocation” or more or less, forced removal from their homelands.
The reason why I was hesitant to chose the Native Americans as my subject for this project, is because it is debatable whether or not the Indian Removal Act could be considered Genocide or not. Though I did receive approval for this project before the conception of my artwork, one could refute the theory of the Indian Removal as Genocide, arguing that this was not an act intended to wipe out an entire specific population in order to eradicate them completely. Rather, we were just trying to relocate, and remove Native Americans from territory that was rightfully ours, not attempting to obliterate their people to terminate their race because of the fact that it marred ours. Still millions of Native Americans died during the Indian Removal/Trail of Tears, only a fraction of their original heritage, tradition, and people left.
For my project, I chose to paint a portrait which depicted an image in my head which could relay my raw feelings towards Genocide. My inspiration for this project was one of the most well known and legendary Native American Chiefs, Sitting Bull. He is considered one of America’s true founding fathers. There is a photograph of him which encompasses the true essence of the strength the Native Americans held. His furrowed brow, traditional hair and feathers, his glossy eyes; A blank stare possessing the power to translate the origin of a remarkable culture. I’ve always admired this photograph, and I wanted to recreate it with my own twists. In this painting, we see the face of Sitting Bull, a face almost expressionless, yet saturated with emotion. Below his head is a skeleton, representing the immense volume of Native American people who died and were left behind. This also represents how little of themselves they retained. They were stripped of everything they knew, leaving them mere shells, skeletons, of their former selves. At the top of the feathers in his hair, there's blood dripping down, symbolizing the slaughter of not only an entire people, but of what made them who they were. Scars those who survived bared mentally; perpetually Broken.
Abel S. : Burundi Genocide
Burundi Genocide—My Artist Statement
This picture shows a little boy in Burundi crying, with his dead family members and friends behind him. This boy shows how I feel about the genocide in my country and how the genocide affected me in Burundi.
During the Genocide in Burundi in December of 1993, between 100,000 and 150,000 were reported by the national and international media to have been killed. Since then until today, there have been killings every single week. Tens and sometimes hundreds and sometimes even thousands of people have been killed weekly. In the first couple of months, it was mainly Hutus who were killing Tutsis, And starting from January '94, there were lots of killings on both sides. And there were lots of people who went into exile, and people who fled their properties and also, a lot of them who went into refugee camps in the country, and who are still there today. (Burundi Genocide).
During the genocide between the Hutus and Tutsis, families like mine had to run for their life. Genocide was a very scary time. Everyone was always scared that they would get attacked and killed. People tried to find safe places to go and hide at night with their family. Nobody knew when they might get attacked, and all would hear shooting and bombs going off in all directions. Sometimes helicopters would shoot from up in the air. I remember one time hiding in my bathroom for a whole day while grenades were being launched into the city and helicopters were shooting near enough for me to see. I ended up living in an orphanage as a result of the genocide in Burundi. But I don't remember very much because I was very young.
I interviewed my sister with these questions:
Abel: What did you and our family do during the genocide?
Nizi: We would run and hide wherever it was safe. Sometimes we would sleep in bushes to stay safe from any night attackers. Many times it would be very scary and it was very hard to stay quiet. So we had to stay very quiet and listen carefully to see if we could hear anything scary, and if we did, we would move to another safer location. We never stayed in the same location very long. All we did was try and survive a day at a time. Sometimes we wouldn't have any food to eat so we would go very hungry for a few days at a time.
Abel: What were my mom and dad doing?
Nizi: all they did was try to keep us safe and they were trying to find food when they could go somewhere.
Abel: How many of the members of our family did we loose?
Nizi: We lost an uncle. He was shot and we didn't even see his body because he got shot at a place where it was very dangerous. Our grandma was shot in the leg, too, but thank God she didn't die. She was shot while she was trying to save a little girl that was left behind by her parents.
Abel: Were you ever in a very dangerous situation?
Nizi: The only time I remember was one night when we were about to sleep inside our house, but our dad thought maybe it wasn't a good idea, so we slept outside instead. Later on the rebels came and broke into our house that night, so we were very lucky that we slept outside because the rebels would have killed us or captured us. Another time I was running and I ended up running into a group of the rebel soldiers. I don't think they were bad because they didn't kill me; they let me stay with them and they protected me because they had guns.
Nizi: The day you were born, mom died right away. But I don't really know what happened. She just died giving birth to you. When you were born and we realized that mom was dead, people who were there gave suggestions on how to save you, and they took you to a refugee camp that was in the city. We all wanted you to get helped so you didn’t die. A missionary who ran the refugee camp is the one who took us to the orphanage the day after mom died.
Bibliography
"Burundi Genocide." Burundi Genocide. Maps of the World.com, n.d. Web. 08 May 2014. <http://www.mapsofworld.com/burundi/history/genocide.html>.
This picture shows a little boy in Burundi crying, with his dead family members and friends behind him. This boy shows how I feel about the genocide in my country and how the genocide affected me in Burundi.
During the Genocide in Burundi in December of 1993, between 100,000 and 150,000 were reported by the national and international media to have been killed. Since then until today, there have been killings every single week. Tens and sometimes hundreds and sometimes even thousands of people have been killed weekly. In the first couple of months, it was mainly Hutus who were killing Tutsis, And starting from January '94, there were lots of killings on both sides. And there were lots of people who went into exile, and people who fled their properties and also, a lot of them who went into refugee camps in the country, and who are still there today. (Burundi Genocide).
During the genocide between the Hutus and Tutsis, families like mine had to run for their life. Genocide was a very scary time. Everyone was always scared that they would get attacked and killed. People tried to find safe places to go and hide at night with their family. Nobody knew when they might get attacked, and all would hear shooting and bombs going off in all directions. Sometimes helicopters would shoot from up in the air. I remember one time hiding in my bathroom for a whole day while grenades were being launched into the city and helicopters were shooting near enough for me to see. I ended up living in an orphanage as a result of the genocide in Burundi. But I don't remember very much because I was very young.
I interviewed my sister with these questions:
Abel: What did you and our family do during the genocide?
Nizi: We would run and hide wherever it was safe. Sometimes we would sleep in bushes to stay safe from any night attackers. Many times it would be very scary and it was very hard to stay quiet. So we had to stay very quiet and listen carefully to see if we could hear anything scary, and if we did, we would move to another safer location. We never stayed in the same location very long. All we did was try and survive a day at a time. Sometimes we wouldn't have any food to eat so we would go very hungry for a few days at a time.
Abel: What were my mom and dad doing?
Nizi: all they did was try to keep us safe and they were trying to find food when they could go somewhere.
Abel: How many of the members of our family did we loose?
Nizi: We lost an uncle. He was shot and we didn't even see his body because he got shot at a place where it was very dangerous. Our grandma was shot in the leg, too, but thank God she didn't die. She was shot while she was trying to save a little girl that was left behind by her parents.
Abel: Were you ever in a very dangerous situation?
Nizi: The only time I remember was one night when we were about to sleep inside our house, but our dad thought maybe it wasn't a good idea, so we slept outside instead. Later on the rebels came and broke into our house that night, so we were very lucky that we slept outside because the rebels would have killed us or captured us. Another time I was running and I ended up running into a group of the rebel soldiers. I don't think they were bad because they didn't kill me; they let me stay with them and they protected me because they had guns.
Nizi: The day you were born, mom died right away. But I don't really know what happened. She just died giving birth to you. When you were born and we realized that mom was dead, people who were there gave suggestions on how to save you, and they took you to a refugee camp that was in the city. We all wanted you to get helped so you didn’t die. A missionary who ran the refugee camp is the one who took us to the orphanage the day after mom died.
Bibliography
"Burundi Genocide." Burundi Genocide. Maps of the World.com, n.d. Web. 08 May 2014. <http://www.mapsofworld.com/burundi/history/genocide.html>.
Camille C.
Artist’s Statement
I made this piece of art that I titled “Genos-Cide” to give viewers a visual on the history of genocide in our world. I wanted to make an impact on those who aren’t just learning about genocide, but those who already know…or at least think they know about this horrific act. Few are aware of the real reason why genocide occurs, where it occurs and how destructive it is to human life. So they must know.
With the power of my hands, mind and local craft store I created our world. I placed flags to indicate where the past genocides have occurred. On those flags are information on the origin of the act and the death toll. At the base of the piece I brought attention to Raphael Lemkin’s creation (of the word genocide) with the origin of the word genocide, “genos-cide”, which means “race killing’.
Lastly, I put my heart into this piece because I want genocide around the world to be stopped. It is such a horrific act that some people believe it isn’t even real. Crazy.
I made this piece of art that I titled “Genos-Cide” to give viewers a visual on the history of genocide in our world. I wanted to make an impact on those who aren’t just learning about genocide, but those who already know…or at least think they know about this horrific act. Few are aware of the real reason why genocide occurs, where it occurs and how destructive it is to human life. So they must know.
With the power of my hands, mind and local craft store I created our world. I placed flags to indicate where the past genocides have occurred. On those flags are information on the origin of the act and the death toll. At the base of the piece I brought attention to Raphael Lemkin’s creation (of the word genocide) with the origin of the word genocide, “genos-cide”, which means “race killing’.
Lastly, I put my heart into this piece because I want genocide around the world to be stopped. It is such a horrific act that some people believe it isn’t even real. Crazy.
Asia B.
Eleven million in the Holocaust, eight hundred thousand in Rwanda, two million in Cambodia, four hundred thousand in Darfur, one million in Turkey and millions of others. I didn't even have to mention what happened because you already knew I was talking about; genocide. The scary part is that it is still happening all over the world. All of the bloody souls shown in this painting are the men, women, and children that no one bothered to save because of politics. Even the Angel of Death mourns over the fact that these people who had every right to live where stripped from this world because of disputes about religion, beliefs and antisemitism.
When will you open your eyes and look around you. See the destruction in this broken world that you can help fix. You might feel like a small person in this big world, but if you stand there and do nothing then you are just as guilty as the person oppressing everyone else. You may forget about this painting and the message I am trying to send, but what is seen can never be unseen. Genocide is real and it is up to you, me, and the rest of the world to end it.
Isahi M.
Artist’s Statement
Genocide- the killing of people from a race or tribe. Genocide why does it happen and keep going throughout history. This very moment it can be happening and people know still doing nothing. I can't even imagine how they sleep at night or look at their children knowing kids like them are also being killed for nothing. For what because the other person just didn't like how they lived and killed because he or she had the power to. Its disgusting but it still happens. Through out history we still see it. Even before it happens by the signs that are given but still nothing does anything about it sitting there saying its not happening or its not our problem. It started with the Turks killing 1 million armenians. Then hitler came the most desivating thing that happened jew stripped naked. Physically but also mentally there Rights, houses, families, religion, and their souls. Next was khmer rouge burning villages in cambodia because they wanted a pure farming nation by killing 2 million. Later was saddam hussein using chemical weapons to kill kurds to make there own nation tens of thousand of people died. also in u rwanda africa, and bosnia herzegovina. i thought it would have ended at the holocaust after what hitler did to innocent jews but i guess history keeps repeating itself. I wanted something greater to stop it not some nonresponsive UN that doesn't go in. Also how other country don't do anything enlis its trade or something that benefits them. we need a organization that stops this action. that can responded and prevent the signs or killings. not relying on some people in a chair deciding for us or them.
Genocide- the killing of people from a race or tribe. Genocide why does it happen and keep going throughout history. This very moment it can be happening and people know still doing nothing. I can't even imagine how they sleep at night or look at their children knowing kids like them are also being killed for nothing. For what because the other person just didn't like how they lived and killed because he or she had the power to. Its disgusting but it still happens. Through out history we still see it. Even before it happens by the signs that are given but still nothing does anything about it sitting there saying its not happening or its not our problem. It started with the Turks killing 1 million armenians. Then hitler came the most desivating thing that happened jew stripped naked. Physically but also mentally there Rights, houses, families, religion, and their souls. Next was khmer rouge burning villages in cambodia because they wanted a pure farming nation by killing 2 million. Later was saddam hussein using chemical weapons to kill kurds to make there own nation tens of thousand of people died. also in u rwanda africa, and bosnia herzegovina. i thought it would have ended at the holocaust after what hitler did to innocent jews but i guess history keeps repeating itself. I wanted something greater to stop it not some nonresponsive UN that doesn't go in. Also how other country don't do anything enlis its trade or something that benefits them. we need a organization that stops this action. that can responded and prevent the signs or killings. not relying on some people in a chair deciding for us or them.
Cherise S.
Artist Statement:
In 1939-1945 six million Jews, blacks, gypsy, and others were killed due to Genocide in Germany, also referred to as the Holocaust. People sat back and watched innocent people die. Why? All because of the fear of another war. Once this killing was stopped a law was made to never repeat Genocide again. Since then there has been seven more incidents of Genocide. In Iraq Saddam Hussain killed Muslim's. In Bosnia, Serbs were loosing their lives. In Rwanda the Hutu's were murdering the Tutsi's. They were of the same village but had different religions therefor they killed each other in desperation of being all the same religion. People had their homes,belongings, family, and freedom stollen from them. Genocide may be something that is taught in a history class but many people don't know that it is still happening. We are still robbing people of the only thing that should stick with them throughout their whole life and it needs to stop NOW.
In my opinion there's only so much I can do as one person to stop genocide and that's educate people on it, raise awareness and try to get people to help me take action. We has a society can do way more than we ever imagined. We should first aware people of the problem. Get as many people on our side as we can. Then we can question what the United States is doing to help. Pursue them to take action. If we keep at it for as long as it takes we will get our way. Remember we are ALL family. We deserve equal rights, protection, and freedom.
In 1939-1945 six million Jews, blacks, gypsy, and others were killed due to Genocide in Germany, also referred to as the Holocaust. People sat back and watched innocent people die. Why? All because of the fear of another war. Once this killing was stopped a law was made to never repeat Genocide again. Since then there has been seven more incidents of Genocide. In Iraq Saddam Hussain killed Muslim's. In Bosnia, Serbs were loosing their lives. In Rwanda the Hutu's were murdering the Tutsi's. They were of the same village but had different religions therefor they killed each other in desperation of being all the same religion. People had their homes,belongings, family, and freedom stollen from them. Genocide may be something that is taught in a history class but many people don't know that it is still happening. We are still robbing people of the only thing that should stick with them throughout their whole life and it needs to stop NOW.
In my opinion there's only so much I can do as one person to stop genocide and that's educate people on it, raise awareness and try to get people to help me take action. We has a society can do way more than we ever imagined. We should first aware people of the problem. Get as many people on our side as we can. Then we can question what the United States is doing to help. Pursue them to take action. If we keep at it for as long as it takes we will get our way. Remember we are ALL family. We deserve equal rights, protection, and freedom.
Chelsea M.
Genocide
Ever since the drastic event of the Holocaust, America and other countries made genocide prohibited. Yet till this day, genocide is still happening and no one is doing anything about it. It’s really crazy to think we as a world said genocide would ever happen again, but look now. When Hitler invaded Poland in 1939 that’s where it all began. It has been way too long since the Holocaust and knowing it is still happening is unbelievable. Some examples of places that still carried genocide were Cambodia 1970, Serves 1992, Rwonda, Bosnia, Iraq 1944, and Turkey before world war two. Genocide is based on stupid opinions and decisions. For example just because if one country or religion doesn’t like another one is specific does NOT mean that religion or country has to kill them all. That is what makes our world we live in, embarrassing.
We as in a world,community,country, and individual in order to stop genocide is to speak up. Have the whole world know what’s going on. I know we might not want to get involved but you have to look at it from a different perspective as if it was your family in danger.
There isn’t much to do, but once you realize what i going on around our world, you would want to step in. Babies and children dying for no reason is not right. We can have assembly’s at schools, donations, and fundraisers to help end genocide. Lets help stop a stupid crucial thing that should end once and for all.
Ever since the drastic event of the Holocaust, America and other countries made genocide prohibited. Yet till this day, genocide is still happening and no one is doing anything about it. It’s really crazy to think we as a world said genocide would ever happen again, but look now. When Hitler invaded Poland in 1939 that’s where it all began. It has been way too long since the Holocaust and knowing it is still happening is unbelievable. Some examples of places that still carried genocide were Cambodia 1970, Serves 1992, Rwonda, Bosnia, Iraq 1944, and Turkey before world war two. Genocide is based on stupid opinions and decisions. For example just because if one country or religion doesn’t like another one is specific does NOT mean that religion or country has to kill them all. That is what makes our world we live in, embarrassing.
We as in a world,community,country, and individual in order to stop genocide is to speak up. Have the whole world know what’s going on. I know we might not want to get involved but you have to look at it from a different perspective as if it was your family in danger.
There isn’t much to do, but once you realize what i going on around our world, you would want to step in. Babies and children dying for no reason is not right. We can have assembly’s at schools, donations, and fundraisers to help end genocide. Lets help stop a stupid crucial thing that should end once and for all.
Martin A.
My image shows how harsh Genocide is and how people are treated. The meaning of genocide is the annihilation of a race or ethnicity. There are the deaths of many and separations of families. Such as, brothers, sisters, mothers, etc. being killed. Many suffer from starvation, physical assault, rape, humiliation, and physical labor.
This image highlights the helpless,starving Jewish against the strong SS soldiers.This shows how the Jewish were treated even if they asked for a small portion of food. Ever since the Holocaust there has been seven events of Genocide and here are five examples one of them was in Turkey were the Turks wanted to kill off the Armenian Christians, the second one in south east Asia in Kambodiah were the kahmer rouge tried to go back in time and have the slaves do medieval salue, the third one In Iraq in Bosnia, Herzegovina were the Serbs wanted to kill off all the Muslims, the fourth one in Rwanda were the Whotus who were trying to kill off the tutsies and the final example was in Sudan, Dafur were the Arains were trying to kill off the Africans.This concludes that the U.S needs to stop this before it gets out of hand once again before another big act of Genocide happens again.
This image highlights the helpless,starving Jewish against the strong SS soldiers.This shows how the Jewish were treated even if they asked for a small portion of food. Ever since the Holocaust there has been seven events of Genocide and here are five examples one of them was in Turkey were the Turks wanted to kill off the Armenian Christians, the second one in south east Asia in Kambodiah were the kahmer rouge tried to go back in time and have the slaves do medieval salue, the third one In Iraq in Bosnia, Herzegovina were the Serbs wanted to kill off all the Muslims, the fourth one in Rwanda were the Whotus who were trying to kill off the tutsies and the final example was in Sudan, Dafur were the Arains were trying to kill off the Africans.This concludes that the U.S needs to stop this before it gets out of hand once again before another big act of Genocide happens again.
Rachel B.
Eliazar A.
Matthew N.
Alanna Rodriguez-Ruiz
Artist Statement
Seeing all the pictures and hearing all the horrific stories of the holocaust and other genocides that have happened make my heart break. Its hard to imagine all these things actually happened and still continue to happen. Genocide is race killing, Raphael Lemkin created the Genocide Convention. The Genocide Convention became law and required nations to act against genocide. In 1948 the United Nations declared Genocide to be an international crime. In 1939 Hitler invaded Poland. Hitler wanted and aryan race. In 1970 the Genocide in Cambodia took place, Khmer Rouge burned villages because he wanted to return to all peasant farmers. They killed the rich, religious, and anyone different. Saddam Hussein Killed the Kurds in 1988 in Iraq. Saddam Hussein wanted his own nation. The serbs in Bosnia wanted their own state with their own religion.
I dont know why nobody has stepped in and done anything about these Genocides. After the holocaust nations said they would never let it happen again, but the Genocide killings did happen over and over again. If people choose to make these Genocides aware to everybody and make them known then maybe more people would try to make a difference. Some people have the power and supplies to help the victims of genocide and still do nothing. I think if everybody tried to make a change then it would help. Everybody should try to make other aware of the genocide that goes on so that people can try to take action.
Seeing all the pictures and hearing all the horrific stories of the holocaust and other genocides that have happened make my heart break. Its hard to imagine all these things actually happened and still continue to happen. Genocide is race killing, Raphael Lemkin created the Genocide Convention. The Genocide Convention became law and required nations to act against genocide. In 1948 the United Nations declared Genocide to be an international crime. In 1939 Hitler invaded Poland. Hitler wanted and aryan race. In 1970 the Genocide in Cambodia took place, Khmer Rouge burned villages because he wanted to return to all peasant farmers. They killed the rich, religious, and anyone different. Saddam Hussein Killed the Kurds in 1988 in Iraq. Saddam Hussein wanted his own nation. The serbs in Bosnia wanted their own state with their own religion.
I dont know why nobody has stepped in and done anything about these Genocides. After the holocaust nations said they would never let it happen again, but the Genocide killings did happen over and over again. If people choose to make these Genocides aware to everybody and make them known then maybe more people would try to make a difference. Some people have the power and supplies to help the victims of genocide and still do nothing. I think if everybody tried to make a change then it would help. Everybody should try to make other aware of the genocide that goes on so that people can try to take action.