The Potential Origin of Genocide in Today's World

The rights of ALL citizens of any country must be equal if ALL citizens are expected to fully support that government.

The quote at the top of the story by Wimala Kannangara; shown here in 1958 at the front of this group, tells a person everything they need to know about the struggle for fair rights in Sri Lanka.

(HARRISVILLE, N.H.) - The following quote gives us a strong hint of exactly what is behind the problems in Sri Lanka or for that matter, much of the rest of the world:

“If we are governing, we must govern. If we are ruling, we must rule. Do not give into the minorities.” – Mrs. Wimala Kannangara M.P. Sri Lankan Parliament, July 1981

When a government . . . any government, allows prejudice to run rampant between any two factions of its citizenry, unrest is bound to exist but when it condones, supports, and even promotes such prejudice, as the previous statement clearly signifies, civil war will almost certainly ensue.

The rights of ALL citizens of any country must be equal if ALL citizens are expected to fully support that government. No factor is as important to stability in a country as equality. Try to imagine for a moment, what it must be like for the people of Palestine. Portions of their ancestral homeland (now called Israel) have roads where Jews only may access. The live under a system that has separate laws for Jews and Non-Jews.

Imagine being a Jew in Germany in 1939. Being made second-class citizens because of your religion. Seeing your family hauled-off in railroad boxcars never to be seen or heard from again. Having all of your possessions confiscated and made property of the state . . . being forced to wear the Star of David on your clothing to identify you as someone designated as being undesirable by the state.

If these examples are too distant for you to imagine, consider what it must have been like for the blacks living under the “Jim Crow” laws of the Pre-Kennedy south. Imagine Rosa Parks being forced to give up her seat to white males. Imagine being refused the use of a water fountain or admittance to a restaurant, store, movie theater, or hospital in your own country, simply because of the color of your skin.

Imagine being a Japanese American shortly after Pearl Harbor. Having your business shut down and your family forced to live in an internment camp. Imagine what it must have been like being viewed by your fellow Americans as second-class citizens or even spies and traitors.

How the government of Israel . . . a country founded by people who suffered some of the worst prejudice ever known to man . . . can practice that same prejudice toward the people of Palestine, is beyond my comprehension.

Prejudice is not new. It has existed from ancient times. No one is born prejudicial. It is a learned weakness that infects the human heart, mind, and spirit. Prejudice is the antithesis of brotherhood and should be visibly and energetically condemned by all good people, wherever it exists. When a person, organization, or government is mired in prejudicial muck, it is impossible to reach a higher plane of existence and improve. Why anyone would want a child to embrace something as ugly and putrid as prejudice is beyond me.

The worst crime any government can commit is to allow prejudice to reach the point of genocide. For a government to condone the annihilation of a portion of its citizenry based on race, religion, country of origin, or for that matter, any reason, is far worse than criminal . . . it is inhuman! When any government allows prejudice to push it toward the precipice of inhumanity, it is signing the its own death warrant . . . but, that is just my opinion!

Writer Robert Collinsworth is an American who isn't hesitant to talk about the good side of his country, and that is a welcome thing in this day and age. Salem-News.com admittedly, is very critical of both American politics, as well as those of other nations that we perceive is being wrong in their motives and actions. At the same time, within these structures we criticize, are many outstanding people who make each day a better place for all those around them. They embody and personify the American spirit that is sometimes fleeting, but always present.

These are some of the things Robert takes into account when writing commentary that is designed reach people, to "get them thinking" in his words, and indeed it does. Salem-News.com's goal is for all people to be on the same page, we appreciate Bob's more conservative approach toward that same goal."

You can write to Bob Collingsworth at this email address: colli2@webryders.net