Today’s News of Khmer Rouge Convictions Brought Me To Tears
As I
was driving to my yoga practice after work this evening my radio was tuned, as
customary, to NPR. “All Things Considered” interviewed a woman who had written
a book about her memories of the Khmer Rouge regime under Pol Pot in Cambodia
and her earliest memories at the age of 5 of her father being taken away for
execution. The interview was broadcast
in conjunction with the news
that 83-year-old Khieu Samphan and 88-year-old Nuon Chea were convicted
of crimes against humanity in a Phnom Penh court. These two men were
senior members of the regime caused the deaths of nearly 2 million people
30 years ago.
 |
| Evidence of the Slaughter |
 |
| Pol Pot |
While the Holocaust of World
War II remains at the forefront of teachings about atrocities committed by man
against man, there have been other more recent examples of atrocity, genocide
and man’s inhumanity to man that has received far less recognition by the
western media, the intelligentsia, politicians and history books. One of those episodes in our collective
history is the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia under Pol Pot
between 1976 and 1979. The Khmer Rouge
forced the urban citizens and the educated of Phnom Penh into labor camps in
the countryside and starved them to death.
If you have never watched
the movie, “The Killing Fields”, which was based upon the experiences of New
York Times journalist Sydney
Schanberg and the struggles of his colleague, Cambodian citizen Dith Pran, who
was portrayed in the movie by a survivor of the camps, Haing S. Ngor, who
earned an Oscar for his portrayal of Pran,
I urge you to do so. Dr. Ngor was
later murdered in a home invasion in Los Angeles. I still recall the sadness I
felt when I heard the news.
 |
| Dith Pran |
 |
| Sydney Schaunberg |
I’ve
never been to Cambodia (although it is on my bucket list), but I have been
within 10 kilometers of the border while visiting Viet Nam and cannot fathom
the horror experienced by Cambodia’s people. The photographs of the atrocities
are heart rending. I remain disturbed that the western media and politicians
have given short shrift to the crimes committed against people that are not of
European decent. While I do agree the horrors perpetrated upon the Jewish
people during the Nazi era were unconscionable I cannot accept that the
atrocities committed upon Asian and African citizens are any less compelling.
But
today upon hearing about the conviction of these Khmer Rouge criminals in a
court with the backing of the United Nations, I felt a glimmer of hope. I was
also filled with sadness for the tragedies of the past and the visions of the
bones left unburied in the killing fields. At least today, 30 years later,
there has been some justice.
WebRep
currentVote
noRating
noWeight
 |
| Dr. Haing S. Ngor |
No comments:
Post a Comment