The assignment:  Briefly, research genocide; find out how it is defined, and find and prepare an appropriate graph of some data pertaining to genocide (cite references using APA format).  On Compass, find the “Discussion” page, and under the genocide question, give your definition of genocide and briefly describe your graph and tell why you chose that data.

From the teacher:

On Aug. 5, 2005, the Illinois State Board of Education issued a press release about the signing of HB 312, a law requiring education about genocide. From the release:

SPRINGFIELD – Governor Rod R. Blagojevich today signed House Bill (HB) 312 into law, expanding Holocaust and genocide education for Illinois elementary and high school students. In addition to learning about the Nazi atrocities of the 20th century, students will now learn about more recent acts of genocide around the world, including those in Armenia, Ukraine, Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Sudan. In June, the governor signed legislation making Illinois the first state in the nation to end state investment in Sudan, cutting all state financial ties with the oppressive and genocidal Sudanese government.

From students:

(AC) The term genocide is most frequently used to describe the act of attempting to eliminate a particular group, particularly when one government, person, or political party is accused of massacring a religious or ethnic group. There is also some debate from different groups as to further or more specific meanings, fore example the term genocide can be used to describe measures other than direct killing, such as preventing specific groups from reproducing. The type of group that is being targeted also contributes to people’s definitions of genocide, debate exists like whether genocide only applies to ethnic, and religious groups, or also to sexual groups. Whether or not one classifies it as genocide, it is hard to say that the singling out of any group for annihilation is not wrong. Genocide, to me, is any attempt by one party to eradicate a specific group through whatever means.
The chart I chose shows the approximate numbers of deaths in six recent genocide events. I think it is easy to overlook the number of people dyeing in each event, no mater the cause, and to illustrate the scale of the death total I chose a pie chart. With limited reactions and recourses to contribute to a solution to such issues it is important to look at the scale each event, and how many people are affected, in addition to simply looking at the moral implications of the event. Because of the wide range of estimates for deaths the data I uses was an average of various estimates, but at the same time exact figures aren’t necessary to appreciate the impact of genocide.

(BS) Genocide is when one group deliberately attempts to kill another group, whether it be the government, one specific party, or only one person. The means can be varied, from outright mass murder to less extreme methods of putting certain groups into living conditions to bring about their end. Many groups who participate in genocide often deny that it happened afterward, or try to justify their actions, but these are often not the case. Many instances of genocide persist to this day, and the international community is slow in punishing them, but it is having an effect, as shown in my chart of notable genocides, a general trend for shorter and less bloody massacres.

(KO) Pol Pot, leader of a group called Khmer Rouge, launched violence against an ethnic group in Cambodia in the 1970s. As a result of this violence, the population of Cambodia, which was estimated to rise to 8.5 million people by 1975, dropped 1.671 to 1.871 million people from 1975 to 1979 during the Khmer Rouge campaign. The bar graph I created depicted the populations in categories based on when population estimates were taken. Although there was a census value taken for the population in 1962, demographers believed the estimate to be too small, and therefore subsequent estimates for the following years were created. Although the population rises from April 1970, the first estimate and the end of 1975, the population doesn't increase as much as was originally predicted. Also, the population begins to decrease more and more in the following years. One must be sure to take into account, however, the fact that the data was not given at regular intervals because they are estimates given by demographers at the time. Nevertheless, there is clearly and downward trend despite original predictions of a population increase.

(AB) Genocide is a term that can cover any number of acts, but it principally describes the deliberate killing or serious wounding of members of a national, racial, or religious group with an intent to destroy the group.
My graph displays the dates when different members of the United Nations ratified its international genocide laws, in reaction to the Holocaust during WWII. While the laws were created in 1951, some countries didn't ratify them until as late as 1988. I felt this information was important to relate: while it may at first appear that the law was accepted universally, in fact it took over 30 years to come into effect.

(JK)  Genocide is the planned and purposeful destruction of a group of people who share a trait.  I picked this graph because I think that the large number of allied civilian deaths is somewhat unexpected. I also chose this graph because it illustrates some of the downsides of pie charts. The reader does not know how many deaths there were. This graph can also be confusing because, while more total allied troops died, a smaller percentage of allies died (allied deaths/total deaths > axis deaths/total deaths, but allied deaths/allied troops < axis deaths/axis troops).

(LA)  Raphael Lemkin first used the term "genocide," from the Greek for race and kill (genos and cide), in his 1943 campaign aimed at establishing it as a crime recognized by international law. Currently, the UN defines genocide as "any of the following acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group." These acts include the killing of any members of a group, mental or physical harm to members of a group, subjecting a group to living conditions intended to destroy it, preventing births within a group, and taking the children of one group and forcing them into another. This definition has been criticized since its adoption for being too narrow, and for making it impossible to accurately identify genocide. Because of these disagreements on how genocide should be defined, it is difficult to form a list of the genocides that have occurred in the 20th Century. Four genocides inarguably fall under the UN's definition: the Ottoman Turks' killing of the Armenians, the Holocaust, Rwanda, and Milosovic's massacres in Bosnia. Other historical cases argued to be genocide include the man-made famine inflicted upon Ukraine by the Soviets, the invasion of East Timor by Indonesia, and 1970s killings in Cambodia.
My graph depicts six of the aforementioned genocides. I graphed them in descending order according to their minimum death toll estimate. I chose to depict these genocides because they were most related to my paragraph on genocide, and for the most part fit the UN's definition of genocide. I chose to depict the minimum estimates to remove the element of doubt from my graph; the elimination of the possibility of exaggeration or misrepresentation makes the graph's data, I think, more striking. Interestingly, with the exception of the Armenian genocide, the death tolls decrease the closer their occurence was to the present day. Other than that, the graph is generally consistent, with a maximum of 5.1 million (Holocaust Jews) and a minimum of 250,000 (Bosnians).

(AG)  I decided to do my graph on information I found pertaining to the issue of Rwandan genocide. The cite contained entries of estimated death tolls starting in April. I complied a bar graph of the estimated deaths, in thousands, for each week after the first entry on April 7, 1994.  Death tolls in Rwanda now total over 800,000.