JAC: A Journal of Composition Theory, Volume 16, Number 2, 1996 Page: 291
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Writing and Rewriting Racism 291
racism on this campus and we're not going to take it any more." At that time I
knew nothing of the College Republican leaflet or the demonstration, and I was
thinking, "Well, what does she think I have been trying to deal with in this class
over the last month?" Other students came by and whisked her away, but I
managed to extract a promise from her that she would return with some
information for us.
I do not know whether it was shock at the disruption of the class or the near
impossibility of trying to speak about a personal narrative in which the author
reports losing 86 relatives and describes in torturous detail the night her mother
was taken away by the Nazis, but the class seemed shut down. Very few were
willing to risk making themselves vulnerable by speaking. That changed when
Dayhanarareturned with the College Republican text andan account of the rally
in the Dustbowl that morning. Inthe ensuing discussion, the class foldedthe past
reality of attempted genocide in together with the present racial harassment of
students of color. It was emotional.
I tried to focus some of the passion that was being stirred up by the reading
and the political struggle in a writing assignment.
I am looking for a personal response to your reading of I Promised I Would Tell ...
Since I do not think any of you are descendants of Holocaust survivors, a personal
response may seem like an impossible rhetorical task. However, many people feel it
is important to study the Holocaust to avoid another genocide of any people.
A personal response might entail a discussion of ways in which you have seen or
participated in victimizing another person or group or you, yourself, felt victimized.
Some students have also written about prior exposure to Holocaust studies. Please
use specific anecdotes. Let this be an opportunity to raise the consciousness of your
instructor and your classmates.
In making comparisons, please be mindful of the fact that, with the Holocaust, we
are talking about the murder of six million people from one religious group. As one
survivor has put it, "Not all the victims [of the Nazis] were Jews, but all the Jews were
victims."
I tried to avoid what Bizzell might term "schooling of the emotions" by giving
the students the option to write about prior educational experiences with
Holocaust literature. In other words, students who chose to could produce
information-based texts as opposed to experience-based ones (Harris 63).
I saved several of the essays and one that stays in my mind was written by
a white Catholic female named Erin. It is called "Learning to Speak Up" and is
one of those texts that reminds me that the family is a crucial part of what Louis
Althusser calls the ideological state apparatus, institutions that serve the power
of the state in the private domain. Erinbegins with a description of her aunt and
some of the negative comments she has made about different ethnic groups at
family gatherings. Erin had wanted to challenge her aunt repeatedly but her
mother always put astop to it with a fierce look, later telling her that the woman
was too old, she was just brought up that way, and that she didn't want her
daughter to upset her. Once, however, theywere in the mall and Erin could not
contain herself.
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Association of Teachers of Advanced Composition (U.S.). JAC: A Journal of Composition Theory, Volume 16, Number 2, 1996, periodical, 1996; (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc28616/m1/95/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .