To prevent future genocides, generations present and future must educate themselves about past atrocities and remember that humanity is all one family.
That’s the word from three 20th century genocide survivors who spoke at “While The World Watched,” a panel discussion at the College of Lake County April 9. They included Estelle Laughlin, 89, a Lincolnshire resident who escaped the Holocaust. The other panelists included Claire Mukundente, 39, who fled atrocities in Rwanda and Anneth Houy, 37, who fled Cambodia with her family to escape the brutal Khmer Rouge regime. The three spoke at a panel discussion organized by Larry Leck, adjunct humanities professor and coordinator of CLC’s Center for Nonviolence.
The event was part of global efforts to recognize the 25th anniversary of the Rwanda tragedy in Africa. During the Rwandan Civil War, the Hutu majority government conducted a mass slaughter of an estimated 800,000 Tutsi, between April and July of 1994, Leck said.
