Recently, several elderly Kenyans flew to London to sue and seek an apology from the British government for human rights abuses in the early 1950’s. These human rights abuses include the systematic torture, rape, and massacre of tens and thousands of Kenyans -- men, women, and children -- by the British. As many as 100,000 Kenyans were victims of these abuses, but the final number is just an estimate, because Kenyans never had a voice. Rather they were muffled and forgotten about, our story wiped out by the British pen of history.Simultaneously, a trial began at The Hague to bring Kenyan politicians to justice for violence that cost the lives of over 1,000 Kenyans. The painful irony of the two court cases is that what the British did to my Kenyan people was no different than what the Nazi did to the Jews, yet British perpetrators of the Kenyan Holocaust were never held accountable. The difference lies in the fact that the Jewish community has had greater access to media and voice, to tell their own tragic and horrific story. The Kenyans never did. Our story remains in silence, undocumented and unheard, leaving the British open to deny involvement rather than apologize.
