[lbo-talk] Re: Rwandan massacres not racist?

Tahir Wood twood at uwc.ac.za
Mon Feb 23 01:07:23 PST 2004


There have been comments in a couple of threads recently to the effect that the Rwandan mass killings was not "racist". I don't really understand how such statements can be justified. The only reason I can perceive for such comments would be that both the Tutsis and Hutus were black Africans. But racism _rarely_ relies on something as overt as difference in skin colour.

Tahir: Racism rarely relies on skin colour? Are you serious?

They were and are different ethnic groups and that is all it takes for racist ideology and for violence to occur. Perhaps I'm missing something?

Tahir: I'm afraid I have no idea what a race is - I suspect they don't exist at all. But seeing as white people are most often associated with racism, I thought that it had something to do with black and white, i.e. with colour.



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