Video Transcript: Race Testimony from Rwanda

Henry Reyenga - Hi, I'm Henry Reyenga and welcome back to the Critical Grace Theory class. And with me is John, from Rwanda. And John, introduce yourself,  very briefly and then we're gonna talk a little bit about how critical economic  theory critical race theory and how that worked itself out in the genocide of  1994. So tell us little bit about yourself first.  

John – One of the ministers had a phone in the prison, and that was one of  ministers will run a couple of programs in Rwanda, with support to our  communities, providing clean water, education, microfinance for women. And  then we're now building a medical clinic for the community of women, which is in the western part of the country with 26,000 people that have not all of these  things. So we've been so privileged to be part of what God is doing over there.  And I get the privilege to be the phone guy. God has done such a tremendous  work with that ministry. But anyway, Rwanda had a terrible genocide, as all  know, in 1994, the claimants why people don't talk about is the genocide that  happened in Rwanda prayer to 1995.  

Henry - So what first of all go back? What are these divisions, it was really a  conflict division that was set up to begin with what happened?  

John - Well, So way back in the late 1800s. Rwanda was colonized by the  Germans, as most of the other African countries have been colonized. And then  when the Germans lost the first World War back in 1900s, Rwanda was given to  Belgium. And so but when dozens came to Rwanda, they found huge  resistance, because Rwanda has the same culture, same language,  

Henry - and a really, they were one people,  

John - one people. And one people, three economic classes, no social classes. Henry - okay. three economic class, in the culture.  

John - And why did they do that? Because that was the only way they could do  to divide the people and then ruin it. That's where they're wrong.  

Henry – The ruling class, the working class, so they sort of put those economic  divisions.  

John - Yes, together, exactly. So with that, that led to actually starting to identify  ourselves, more or less not as Rwandans.  

Henry – What were they called?

John - Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa.  

Henry – What was Twa? 

John - The third one, which you would probably call it like,  

Henry - all the Aborigines, the original natives,  

John - I don't think that way we, we all again, depending on what kind of work  we're doing for the country. 

Henry – Ah, it was still economic  

John – Twas, they were mostly doing pottery. You know, pottery. Pottery was  very key for us. And then Hutus, we are mostly farmers. Tutsis are mostly  ranchers, you know, cow people. You know, all these things work together. It  was not, it wasn't like I'm better than you, we all work together to build the  country the whole time. Okay. And so the wealth of that time was the cow. So  everybody worked so hard to get the cows. So you could graduate today from  being a farmer, to a cows, to having 10 cows, until everybody who had 10 cows,  by that time by the builders, who was perceived to be a Tutsi. And that's how I  got it.  

Henry - So it was the economic division that ultimately became very much tied  to a racial division. Absolutely. So then if you were born this way, they actually  had identity cards. 

John – From the 40s, 1940s, with the Senate issuing identity cards, now they  started measuring the nose and you know, the physical features. So what they  did, they divided people according to economics, and said, Oh, if you have 20  cows, then you are Tutsi, If you have less cows than you you're Hutu. If you do  poorly,  

Henry - but you can actually change? Absolutely. But in generally people didn't  change as much because no, they got card.  

John – Yeah, Yeah, we did get the card and then this went on and then when  they came in. When they came in they brought a king, so they severed the Tutsi, because the ruling party, the ruling clan whatever,  

Henry - okay, so not only was an economic but then it became political. 

John - Exactly. The seventh king came but not every Hutu was, it was only the  ruling elite. And then, finally, when the king decided to say no, this isn't what we  want for our country. We want everybody to be inclusive. We all want to make  sure that can and then they installed a Hutu president as a public in 1962. That  the history continues since then. And then 1960 people started killing each other 

Henry – So the genocides, many genocides already started.  John – Started 1969. 

Henry - But it was around critical theory where you create chaos, and you get  people against each other. And then somehow politically rule by segments  against each other.  

John - Absolutely, absolutely. And this was not only in Rwanda, there's so many  parts of Africa. This is what happened. So so that kept on going. So when we  got the fast internet, 

Henry – What year was that? 

John – 1962. We got independence on the papers. But then they leave a huge  mess of London leaders that are already the technology, they don't want us any  more. You're a Hutu and I'm a Tutsi.  

Henry – So now, society is divided and the political leaders are ruling through  that division.  

John - absolutely. And then of the Belgian beliefs, and then the French takeover, and they never stopped that or helped us to stop that they actually encouraged it through the leadership that it was there. And so. So 1960, my family kicked out  of one because of the Tutsis, the violence happens from 1959 to 64.  

Henry - So you're actually we're not born?  

John - No, I wasn't. 

Henry - you're born in  

John - Uganda in a refugee camp. 

Henry - Uganda had their own. You were raised in a lot of turmoil, 

John - most of the people were left one night, they went to Kenya, they went to  Congo, they all have their own differences, you know, you had up to now.  

Henry - Fast forward, we're getting into 1984. So what led to the mass genocide. Was that over a million people killed. 

John - killed. So now in the early in the early 1970s, and 80s. This was going on  from 73, was a coup d'etat. The president who died in the plane 1994. And he  promised to bring peace, to unite the people to let the refugees who have left  the country to come back. He didn't do any of that. Actually he put the old  personal Tutsis, and they kick them out of government offices, You can go to  school, or the Tootsie you put into our businesses,  

Henry - it turns out by the 1990s, that the division, the conflict theory, the  creating chaos, and using racial lines, were starting to create, like, you could  have a job, you couldn't have a job. 

John – You couldn't move to unlimited part of the country. Because then you had a national identity card that showed as a Tutsi, Hutu, or a Twa. I mean, that's  how the government issued them. So you could not it was very, very intense.  And so then with that, the pressure started to mount for this government, by the  international community. And the guy said, No, Rwanda is a glass full of water. If you pour more water, it's gonna spill. So we don't want people to come up back.  He was denying the rights of the people. Even those in Rwanda didn't have all of the rights for the people. So finally, they say, you know, we had to the, the  refugees out of Rwanda, they organize themselves because they wanted their  political way to come back. And they couldn't get that. So the only way was to  fight and come back and take over the Congo and that was Torrio and was doing a genocide was planning a study different than the ideology of the genocide was planted way back.  

Henry - So let's, let's put it there. So, what really, this is a class on critical grace  theory, where we see the role of God in the hearts of people in the hearts of  society. Would you say that that structure or even the race itself was elevated to  a God? Or was God taken out of the equation in that whole time that where did  that division what what was in your opinion? Where was that spiritual trouble  there?  

John - Where did it come from? Or how 

Henry – How does it function or where did it come from reflect on, again,this  class is critical Grace theory where we see that God created the heaven, the  earth, image bearers we're all  

John – I think what really happened is we got God out of the equation. Right. So when the when the Belgians come in when the French came in because one of  the belief in God, and so we got God out of it.  

Henry - Oh, okay, somehow God got out of that equation. 

John - Yes. And so we are just having this our own government leading  ourselves by all these European powers, but there was no God in all of this.  Even the word was that was there was, was much more legalistic. Right, there  was no grace, there was no understanding of the grace, there was no salvation,  there was no knowing Jesus. 

Henry – So there was Church's religion, but not grace. you don't really know that relationships, not a worldview with a living God.  

John - like 95% of the people are Catholic. But there was just religion, and if we  would have grace in our country genocide would not have happened. But it had  religion. So at some point, I think that God was out of the grid.  

Henry - So what was elevated instead of God?  

John – Oh, you know, tribe. As soon as you know, you know, individuals instead  of seeing the government, God was in power of people sort of seeing the  President as their own god, instead of seeing, or they call him to follow the  country. And so that's what happened until 1994, when the crime  

Henry – So this massacre occurred, this genocide occurs, largely ignored by  much of the world. But then all of this, the aftermath, in somehow, God shows  up in this country now. And you're now one people, because you've taken race  off the throne, and God is more on the throne. How did that happen?  

John - Well, first of all, I think up to the genocide, people have to know the  context, that we lost 1 million people. In only 100 days, we're in the process of  genocide in the history of mankind. And very interestingly, this genocide was  done by Rwandan. Right. So a brother would come to kill the brother, husband  would come to kill the wife, and the wife would turn to the children. And so these ratios, absolutely, that had been mounting for several decades. And then, very  interestingly, the world just stood by when this was happening. You know, we 

take the blame, as Rwandans for doing that, but also the world just stood by.  There was no win win. Right up to the genocide, all of us were impacted. You  know, you have 10,000 incarcerated in jails included in the genocide. And you  have, we have this country that is torn apart. And in the matter of pride, you  were supposed to protect it, most of the genocide failed. So what do you do with all of that? What did Rwandans say is, how did we live through that?  

Henry - Before these artificial racial divisions? Right? How did we leave? It was  not the color of your skin or the what your name was, the card? It was because  as Martin Luther King said, you we're judged by the quality of your character.  

John – Exactly. That's good. I am a Rwandan. I am not a Hutu. I am not a Tutsi.  I am a Rwandan. And now I want to see myself and I want I that's what I want  you to see myself. So we went back to the fundamentals, way back, how did  we? How do we solve the conflict? When God created this country of Rwanda,  what was the fundamentals? What? What did you intend for us? We went back,  way back and started from there, how do we solve conflicts? Before the courts.  Because we would have taken many years to try every single possible. So we  aimed at giving justice, aim to give grace, forgiveness.  

Henry - So there's a lot of forgiveness to happen. In there's where the resources of God are essential. Absolutely. I mean, the essence, God gives His son, his  son lays down his life and takes his sin. That's the essence of forgiveness. And  your country is a study of grace.  

John - Absolutely. I mean, until America that you know, every time I came here, I was to privileged to come here, but you know, for the last 10 years, and I met a  beautiful American wife here, but I call this country my second home in America. 

has given us so much in terms of education and supporting Rwanda. And a  couple of even the genocide happened in Rwanda. This is a miracle of the first  countries to come and get us off. So, we should, you know,  

Henry – So the principles of Martin Luther King, that, you know, in the sense  we're all children of God, and the vision is that we are made in His image. We're  even as a people, I know at Christian leaders Institute, you know, anybody  should have the opportunity for education, yes. There should not be the haves  and the have nots, Nope, there should be no and I even get troubled. But for us, it still takes an internet connection that's like a little bit of a, but you know, what,  we're moving in the direction to the internet all over the world, and anyone has  an opportunity. 

John - Let me give you an example. Just before the genocide before 1994 The  University the first University of Rwanda was created 1962, 1963. And so from  1963 to 1994 we only had three Rwandan graduates, Tutsis. What happened?  Tutsis were not allowed to go to the university and even some Hutus who are  

not from the elite ruling class, they're not going there. So what happened was  when you bring down God when you bring reconciliation or bring forgiveness  until we are all one, grace, critical grace theory, so we open up every year we  

are graduating 10,000 college graduates from the University and we don't, now  let me give you another example we I have one administrators have no idea  where no,  

Henry Reyenga - right it doesn't matter. It does not matter. fact in some ways,  most of these seem a little bit strange to look back possible that before 1994  That was such a big deal.  

John – We are ashamed of it. Right we are ashamed of it. How do we let the  devil or Satan take all of this? How did we leave God or take God out of this  because when God created us in his that own loving image, we all the same.  

Henry - We're the same. We have the same hands, the same blood. 

John - I like and we are all live ourselves. You guys live with yourself? You not  white, this another way to skin I'm not black. Right? So I don't even know how to get all these things. Right? Just call me John. I'll call you Henry, my brother in  Christ. All right, if you're an American, that's okay. I'm Rwandan. 

Henry - Yeah. We're all humans, we're all image bearers of God. Well, I thank  you for the time we had and I'm excited about your ministry excited about what  you're doing in Rwanda. And we're all together in the same cloth, in the same  mission. 

John – Back in Rwanda was said to put together the words that we have two  words from the genocide, and one of them is be strong, be strong, komera. And  then the second one is turikumwe, we are together. We are together. Thank you. Thank you so much.  

Henry - What a beautiful opportunity we had to just reflect upon the glory of God and critical Grace theory as it looks at how humans through sin, muck things up  and then one team wins and tries to go after another team but there is only one  team. Yes, we are children of God in Jesus Christ.