The Other Side of Genocide

Written for 5 Biggest Crimes Against Humanity "5 Biggest Crimes Against Humanity"  with the prompt to write a response to https://www.therichest.com/rich-list/the-biggest/the-5-biggest-ever-crimes-again.... I could choose any format and opted for a poem. Note: The ending is controversial. I know this and do not condone the events preceding it. The calculation was done using the date 1492, the year 2020, the original grow rate of 0.012%, and the population of 100 million on this website. http://www.metamorphosisalpha.com/ias/population.php Please don't call me names. It's just an alternate way of looking at things.


Cambodian Genocide: 2.5 million dead
In the killing fields of Cambodia,
The Khmer Rouge worked to destroy
All who weren't the native peasants.
In total, twenty-five percent of the
Population was killed.

Nigerian Civil War: 3 million dead
The Nigerian spiral began with
Independence from Britain.
Igbos, Hausas, and Yurobas,
Once forced to get along,
Finally free to hate, turn on
Each other with Hausas driving Igbos
Southeast as the Igbos attempted to secede.
Ultimately, fifty percent of the Igbos were killed.

Holodomor: 7.5 million dead
Stalin forces Ukraine into submission
Through starvation with a surplus of food.
Food is shipped out, along with rebellious
Ukrainians, but they diverge, the rebels
To Siberia with nothing, not the food they grew.
At its height, thirty thousand Ukrainians starved a day.

Holocaust: 17 million dead
Germany used its ingenuity to
Engineer the most famous genocide in history.
Be they Jews, handicapped, mixed races,
Gays, and more, they weren't pure enough,
Good enough for the Reich.
Two-thirds of Europe's Jews were killed

European Colonization of the Americas: Up to 100 million dead
1492 began the end of the Americans
As they had been for thousands of years.
On purpose and by accident, the colonization
by Europe destroyed natives. In the end,
Ninety-five percent were killed.

Without these acts of human horror, where would we be?
Would there still be cancer?
Would we have colonized the moon?
What great works of art and literature could we have?
What greatness was lost when these lives were destroyed?

But may I also ask, what have we gained?
If only the Colonization of the Americas had not
Caused the mass loss, we'd now have over
Fifty billion people on the Earth.
With each life lost, we both lose and gain.
Ethics require us to look with shame on the
Horror humanity can commit.
But there is another side...
They bought us time before we destroy us all.