Watching films and seeing photographs that document genocide are tough to view in themselves -- surviving it is a whole other story.
Tuesday night, the Office of the Chaplain sponsored "Genocide Today and its Psychological Roots," with speeches by Psychology professor Andrew Shatte and Rwandan native Vital Akimana.
Setting the tone, the event opened with a PowerPoint presentation with photos of Holocaust concentration camps and victims.
After viewing the effects of the Holocaust, Shatte attempted to explain the science behind genocide.
Psychologists have been trying to figure out what motivates people to commit huge massacres, Shatte said. He cited many experiments that have tried to solve this mystery, ranging from researching a gene suspected of producing malevolent behavior to tracing the growth of hatred over humanity's evolution.
Even today, psychologists do not fully understand the logistics of genocide.
At that point, Akimana took center stage. Akimana, a senior at Montgomery Blair High School in Maryland, discussed his reaction to and experience with the war in Rwanda. He described it as "a horrible symphony of destruction that played for weeks."
In his opinion, "Rwandans died because of ignorance. Rwandans died because of hate and lack of respect for human beings."
For Akimana, being a survivor of the massacre that killed around 500,000 -- including some of his own family members -- motivates him to make sure similar atrocities never happen again.
"You need to spread the message of peace because you are alive," he said.
Akimana's graphic speech and the sheer nature of the atrocities affected many students.
"Dr. Shatte was as eloquent, witty and insightful as he always is when giving a lecture," College senior Carol Ortiz-Christenberry said. "In addition, I felt very fortunate to be able to listen to a few of Vital's thoughts on how to deal with such a traumatic issue -- he is undoubtedly an amazing and incredibly resilient person."
Most of the over 100 students that attended agreed with Akimana's claim that education could have solved many of Rwanda's problems.
"It's definitely important to be educated about genocide so that things like this won't happen in the future," College freshman Jennifer Ebling said.
Many students related to the traumas of genocide.
"I am the descendent of Jews who were killed in the Holocaust," College senior Angelika Zilberman said. "This event made it very clear that it is just as important to mourn the losses of other people. Most of the world has been touched by violence."
