Looking Out My Back Door

How Can We Let Atrocities Like This Continue?

Four million people murdered over six years.

Now think: when and where did this happen?

Any idea?

Here's a hint: it's going on right now.

Still don't know? You're (sadly) not alone.

The Oprah Winfrey Show sent journalist Lisa Ling (formerly of "The View," now a correspondent for the National Geographic Network) to a place where horror is a way of life. Here's a quote from the recent Oprah show (more specifically, from the Oprah website) on which Ling reported her findings:

"As she often does, journalist Lisa Ling risked her life to tell us a very important story. She recently travelled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to uncover what's been happening to women in the middle of this war-torn country. The country's most recent conflict stems from a struggle for resources and power, both among domestic and foreign interests—four million people have already been massacred. Lisa spoke to brutalized women in the village of Bukavu who are speaking for the first time in hopes the world will hear their voices. Every single day in the Congo, rape is used as a vicious weapon against women in this war. 'More than any other place I've been, life in the Congo can really be like living hell,' Lisa says. 'If you're a woman, you're constantly in danger of rebels who are hiding in the forest coming and attacking your village and gang raping you, possibly in front of your children.'"

Ling did risk her life traveling to this part of the world. She reported on horrific stories of rape, terror, and women who were then rejected by their husbands because they had been forced into sex slavery by the rebels, often imprisoned for months in the jungle by these sadistic rapists. Women who gave birth to children whose father could have been any one of a number of men who gang raped them, then ostracized by villagers who suggested the children should be killed. Women far braver than I.

Both Oprah and Lisa Ling were incredulous over the fact that hardly anyone knows about these atrocities. Other than the recent movie, "Hotel Rwanda," there's been little publicity. Their conclusion: it's a racial thing. Who cares what's happening in Africa, to Africans? Unfortunately, I think they're right.

Oprah urged the audience to go see "Hotel Rwanda," starring Don Cheadle, who was just nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his performance in it. I'm going to see it this weekend. How about you?

posted by Hopster @ 1:02 PM