More than Marking Genocide

I admire nearly every one of Nicholas Kristof's weekly columns in the New York Times. His column was required reading for a college journalism class I was in a few years ago, and his thought-provoking writing and reporting makes him easily my favorite journalist for exposing issues beyond American borders. He focuses on the plight of women and children around the world while bringing light to issues of poverty and human rights violations in nations seldom covered in mainstream American media.

Over the weekend, the Times published Kristof's latest column, titled "Heroes and Bystanders." Writing of 2015 marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and the beginning of the Armenian genocide, Kristof wrote of the likely global discussion and remembrance the anniversaries will spark, yet he explored further what the anniversaries should spark:

"...the lesson of history is that the best way to honor past victims of atrocities is to stand up to slaughter today. The most respectful way to honor Jewish, Armenian, or Rwandan victims of genocide is not with a ceremony or a day, but with efforts to reduce mass atrocities currently underway."

Kristof does give credit to humanitarian intervention in Kosovo, Sierra Leone, and more recently in the eastern Congo and for the Yazidi minority in Iraq. All atrocities which have seemingly slowed when pressure was applied by the international community.

Yet that intervention, through awareness, discussion, acknowledgement and an understanding of the truth, will always be needed.

In recent coverage of the decade-long war in the eastern Congo, two quotes have stuck with me:

"Imagine nearly 6 million people dying in the middle of Europe and yet we're silent" (Claver Pashi).

"Millions of Congolese people have lost their life as a result of the crisis and it has warranted almost no sustained and enterprising reporting from the media of the world. It has obtained no great purchase on the popular imagination" (Howard French).

I like Kristof's proposal for 2015. History shouldn't be marked, but knowing today's truth should be.