This next post may seem a bit dark, but what happened was still fact. On page 20 of Salgado's book Migrations, we see a wrecked truck with dead bodies surrounding it. If you look further into the photo you will see small specks on the bodies. These small specks are flies, meaning that these bodies have been lying on the side of the road for quite some time. What was it that happened it? It was the Rwandan genocide. To be short, in 1994 the government in Rwanda was controlled by the Hutu tribe. This dominant Hutu government ordered that every individual who belonged to the Tutsi tribe be killed. What was their crime? Being a living Tutsi. Over the next several months it is estimated that over one million Rwandans were slaughtered from these blood thirsty human beings. This particular photo is showing a highway with Tutsi corpses on each side.
This inexcusable act which was committed in human history cannot be taken back, however we can learn from it. I believe that mankind wants to do good, and that each and every one of us have a special light within out hearts that gives us this desire to be good people. I also think that it is easy to smother this light if we are not careful. History has shown that even the best of people can smother this light if they are exposed to enough evil. Where it is difficult to imagine that mankind is capable of such genocides, mankind is also capable of doing so much good. It is my hope that mankind will not sit back and watch genocide or evil in any form take over, but that we will keep this light burning in the heart of humanity.
Salgado, Sebastião, and Lélia Wanick. Salgado. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. New York: Aperture, 2000. 100-101 Print.
Salgado, Sebastião, and Lélia Wanick. Salgado. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. (Pamphlet) New York: Aperture, 2000. 7 Print.
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