87108

I watched "Hotel Rwanda" last night with friends. Afterwards, we discussed the tragedy of Rwanda and, currently, the genocide in Darfur. We spoke of complicity, of peaceful solutions vs. killing, of the role of the bystander.

One thing that stood out in the movie for me was a scene of all white persons being escorted out by the United Nations. Even a dog was allowed to evacuate with its white owner. All blacks were left behind to endure the conflict.

I can speak out about such atrocities. That is important. However, in a larger picture of things, my impact will be relatively small. Sometimes that makes focusing overseas more attractive: I can feel remorse and politically correct emotions without having to be implicated too much.

What about nearer to home? In Albuquerque, we put our "undesireables" mostly within one zip code, 87108, known by locals as "the war zone." We do so by placing all of the sub-standard housing there, giving little choice to someone poor as to where else they might go. Like Rwanda, we--the elite, middle- to upper-class whites--go on about our business and let "them" deal with their differences, turning our heads away when yet another killing is reported. In fact, we tend to think murder and drugs as fairly normal for people "like them."

"Let them resolve it," we say with our actions. Like Rwanda, it's their business; if they want to kill each other, that is their choice. I don't have to live there and all of my friends are in safer places. That is my only responsibility.

Or is it? By not addressing this injustice in my backyard, how can I effect change globally? What is my role to be in changing the conditions of "the war zone" so that they can live in peace? What is my role to be in changing the conditions of Darfur so that people can survive and live in peaceful conditions?

No answers today. Maybe not tomorrow, either. But in remembering my love for my mother this Mother's Day, I recognize that mothers exist everywhere. In Rwanda. In Darfur. In zip code area 87108.

I want a world in which all mothers are treated as I want mine to be treated.