the war in bosnia

i knew a bosnian. in high school, my classmates gave him a nick name. sputnick.

i'm not fucking russian! he told us. and we laughed.

the simple version of this story would be of white middle class americans making fun of the foreign kid. it would be a simple moral dilema.

bosnian kid was popular.

white people love to get offended on the behalf of people like bosnian kid. but this is not my point.

it is this: why do americans trivialize the experience of the refuge? when we make a mockery of it or when we defend it from mockery, there is a level of trivialization that takes place. but i ask this: why shouldn't we trivialize it?

war and genocide are large issues. much too large, you might say, to put in your briefcase and bring home.

in some ways, these issues are as relevant as yesterdays news. ten years ago news. before it even happens, it is in a history book. so last century.