If Rwandans can, why can’t we?
Devilstower at DKos shares the following news out of Africa:
In the last decade, Rwanda suffered from horrible waves of genocidal violence, in which at least 800,000 Tutsis and Hutu moderates died. The violence itself, and the heroism of some of those who put their own lives at risk to end it, has been the stuff of films. What happened in Rwanda this last week is unlikely to appear at the local cineplex, but it was just as important. Rwanda, where many of those responsible for genocide have yet to be brought to trial, this week voted to abolish the death penalty.
Survivors of the slaughter welcomed the decision, noting that the death penalty had existed in Rwandan law before the genocide.
“It didn’t deter people from picking up machetes to slaughter their fellows - that’s why we are not bothered by its removal,” said Theodore Simburudali, president of the Ibuka genocide survivors’ group.
If Rwanda, where people have every right to be sick with rage, can recognize that the death penalty is not a deterrent, there’s hope that we can learn from their example.
The death penalty not only does not deter crime it doesn’t provide the “closure” so often held up as a reason for this barbaric act.