Cape & Islands News

Harwich High students testify on Beacon Hill about genocide education

STAND members speak in favor of an increased commitment to genocide education

   Harwich High student, Andie Ramirez, seated in the center at the microphone, addresses the Joint Committee on Education in Boston Tuesday. The committee is chaired by Cape Cod's State Senator Rob O'Leary on right with hand on his cheek. The room is named for Charles Bulfinch whose portrait is in the upper left and who designed the State House. Photo courtesy of John Dickson.

Two Harwich High School students testified before the Joint Committee on Education Tuesday in support of H.S 463, an Act concerning genocide education. MacKenzie Hamilton and Andie Ramirez, members of Harwich STAND (Students Taking Action Now Darfur), argued why the state needs to increase its commitment to genocide education, in order to help prevent future catastrophes.

About a dozen members of STAND traveled to the State House in Boston to support the cause and to lobby their representatives.

Below are the statements of MacKenzie Hamilton and Andie Ramirez, and the statement of Emily Cunnigham of Cardinal Spellman, delivered as a panel before the Joint Committee on Education Tuesday afternoon at 1 p.m.

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Testimony of MacKenzie Hamilton to the Joint Committee on Education, June 9, 2009

Good afternoon, my name is MacKenzie Hamilton and I'm a recent graduate of Harwich High School here to testify in favour of HR 463.

As Elie Wiesel, genocide survivor and author of Night once said, "Education in the key to preventing the cycle of violence and hatred that marred the 20th century from repeating itself in the 21st century."

"People do not realize that during the three and a half month Rwandan genocide that the number 800,000 stands for real people: 333 per hour, 5 per minute slaughtered, tortured, raped, and hacked apart." - MacKenzie Hamilton

Time and time again, we hear quotes like, "Never Again," but more and more, victims not so much of the Holocaust, but of Bosnia, Rwanda, and Darfur are being forgotten. People do not realize that during the three and a half month Rwandan genocide that the number 800,000 stands for real people: 333 per hour, 5 per minute slaughtered, tortured, raped, and hacked apart.  People do not realize that 400,000 dead and 2.5 million driven from their homes represents a majority of the pre-genocide population of Darfur.  In schools, we are neglecting human rights issues to prepare students for standardized tests.  Testing may be important, but the lives of innocent civilians also need to hold importance in our society. As Samantha Power stated so eloquently in her book, A Problem from Hell, "Time and again, decent men and women choose to look away.  We have all been bystanders to genocide."  It is time for you to make your own decision.  Will you look away, or will you do what you can for our mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters in Darfur?

Children are the most valuable resource we have.  The only way we can end such atrocities is to educate our children, and teach them to care, and that what they think matters.  We need to teach them to act politically, socially, and stand up for what is right.

Three years ago, my school formed a chapter of Students Taking Action Now: Darfur, the student-led division of the Genocide Intervention Network.  Dozens of students in my school have worked to raise money in any way they could.  We've held numerous concerts to generate funds for relief, fasted to raise money for refugee protection, made presentations teaching the conflict in history classes, and helped start a school for refugee students in Chad.  Their students have something to teach us.  They wish to teach us how fortunate we are.  They wish to teach us courage in the face of hardships, starvation, and sorrow.  They wish to teach us that as we sit in these cushioned seats with our Sunday Best on, and shoes on our feet, that there are millions out there that are starving and without any semblance of schooling.  With all of our resources, we have our own responsibility.  Not only do we have a responsibility to protect, but we have a responsibility to teach our own students to think beyond themselves.

We've been to Washington, DC, and lobbied our representatives.  We've been here in Boston, to lobby our legislators to divest from Sudan.  We've organized ourselves to combat genocide.  We've set our list of priorities.  Human life first.  I've witnessed children in my school as young as 14 calling Representative Delahunt to ask for his help.  We've done our part, and will continue to do so, but now it is time for you to act.  No bickering over a couple of dollars for materials for schools, no arguing over whether this atrocity is or is not genocide, no looking away, because Africa is too far away, and we don't think we can help.  As I speak, women are being raped, men are being killed, and children are dying of hunger in Darfur.  This is real, and this must be addressed now.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have done our part, and now it's time that you do yours.  What you can do as legislators is to pass HR 463.   To date, only 9 out of our 50 states have any semblance of Genocide Education in their curriculums, and only California and New Jersey have funded mandates.  We cannot let children finished their high school careers with only a warped view of the Holocaust and blank stares at the words, "Armenia," "Bosnia," and, "Rwanda."  I can think of few things more important to teach than humanity and 'good will to men.'  We need to tell our children the truth--the world is not a perfect place, and there is so much that we take for granted; we hate doctor's appointments, while millions around the world would do anything for adequate medical care; we won't eat our mother's aparagus, while millions more are malnourished starving around the world; we cry over a three week relationship, while there are a hundred thousand women being raped in Sudan.

These children have the capacity and right to learn.  We cannot close their eyes any longer and shelter them from what is truth to hundreds of millions of people around the world.  We also cannot teach just the Holocaust and leave it at that.  We need to give the children the material and resources with which they can educate themselves and fight for what is right.

Testimony of Andie Ramirez to the Joint Committee on Education, June 9, 2009

Hi, my name is Andie Ramirez I'm a junior at Harwich high school. I've been a member of STAND for two years and I became interested in STAND my sophomore year after hearing two genocide survivors speak. Their stories made me realize that we need to help, and we need to take action.

In my remarks I'd like to focus on the amendment we are proposing to HR 463. We are proposing that In Section 1, paragraph one, to replace the words "any one such genocide may" with "at least two genocides should" so that the sentence will read: "Case studies of at least two genocides should be used to demonstrate the concept of genocide."

"Genocide isn't just an awful thing that happened once, it's something that has happened, and is still continuing to happen to this present day. Through the education of not one, but multiple genocides, children will realize that genocide is a current issue, and one that must be stopped." - Andie Ramirez

As the bill stands now, it only requires that schools teach one instance of genocide, and that is not likely to change anything. This is because every high school in Massachusetts most likely teaches about the Holocaust, but that is certainly not enough. For current and future generations to understand the gravity of genocide, they must be educated on present day atrocities in Rwanda, Darfur, Burma, Congo and elsewhere, as well as the Holocaust.  The past and present genocides must be connected, not only will this make history real, it will create a force against the unlawful extermination of millions of innocent people. Genocide isn't just an awful thing that happened once, it's something that has happened, and is still continuing to happen to this present day. Through the education of not one, but multiple genocides, children will realize that genocide is a current issue, and one that must be stopped.  So please consider this amended language.

Our bill faces another difficulty because it mandates $50,000 in spending by the Department of Education.  Our numbers come upon the advice of the legal representatives of the Telling History Project and the Children's Fund for Creative Education. Our legislation is not unprecedented, as other specific education programs are funded individually, and at a much higher cost. Funding could provide teacher trainings, more detailed guides and curricular materials, and the spread of such materials and knowledge to middle and high schools throughout the Commonwealth. However, if funding is not attainable at this time, I urge you to move the bill forward without it, to find another way of giving this bill teeth and substance, or of delaying the funding until a more economically feasible fiscal year.

Another possible objection might be to an additional mandate on the Department of Education.  This legislation is by no means intended to infringe upon a teacher's right to creativity within his classroom, but to dismiss, glaze over, or provide a one sided perspective on the deaths of millions of innocent civilians is to create holes in a child's history education so great that they distort the very fabric of the curriculum.  We hope you will see the value of this in improving the education of all our students.

Testimony of Emily Cunningham to the Joint Committee on Education, June 9, 2009

Regrettably, everything I know about genocide, I did not learn in school.

My interest in the history of genocide began during my freshman year of high school when the situation in Darfur started to make headlines. I was outraged at the atrocities that were being committed under the complacent eye of the world's most powerful governments, at the ignorance and indifference of my friends and family toward the situation, but mostly at my own ignorance when I began to learn more about the genocide in Darfur and realized that it was not an isolated incident, nor was it the first genocide that had taken place since the Nazi Holocaust. Where had my history teachers failed me?

I began to research and develop an addition to the current curriculum framework that would integrate genocide education in an effective way. In my research, I came across a similar effort made over ten years ago.  The Massachusetts Legislature and Governor enacted Chapter 276 of the Acts of 1998, a law directing the Department of Education to make recommendations on curricular materials and resources related to teaching about genocide and human rights.  The result was  The Massachusetts Guide to Choosing and Using Curricular Materials on Genocide and Human Rights.

Said Commissioner of Education David Driscoll, "It is important that students acquire knowledge about genocide and human rights issues to deepen their understanding of both past and current events."

Why then is this document hidden within the depths of the Department of Primary and Secondary Education's website? Why have several high school teachers I have interviewed with a vested interest in genocide and human rights education had no idea of its existence? Why do we continue to inadequately teach our youth about one of the most gravely important issues facing humanity today? This guide is a first step in recognizing the need for genocide education in schools, but I am here from the perspective of a student to tell you that your work is not done.

I have identified five improvements that could be made to the existing frameworks which I believe this bill will help to implement.

1. Curricular materials need to be genocide specific. In the existing frameworks and supplements, there is no mention of the definition of genocide, or the Genocide Convention. Slavery, human rights issues, war casualties, and genocide are lumped into a single document, but in order to address each topic correctly, they must be acknowledged, approached, and taught differently.
2. There is no mention of US involvement or lack of involvement in any curriculum framework or supplement.
3. There is a strong tendency of teachers to rely on the chronology, dates, facts, and figures rather than to address the underlying causes of genocide and the common threads which connect such atrocities of the past and present.
4. Curricular recommendations and materials must be kept up to date. There is no mention of Cambodian genocide, the Kurdish Genocide, the Darfuri genocide or the slaughter of the Karen people of Burma.
5. Finally, this bill needs funding. Though it may be difficult in a time of economic crisis, I urge you to think of the money spent on teacher trainings, conferences, and outside curricular materials in terms of an investment in our future. In fact, our request is a drop in bucket of the Department of Education's near five billion dollar budget.

The lessons, stories, and common threads among the Holocaust, Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Burma, and Sudan should echo from the blackboards and lecterns of every middle and high school across our Commonwealth. If not, for what have these millions upon millions of innocent mothers, fathers, and children died over the past century?

Samantha Power, genocide scholar and advisor to President Obama states

"No US President has ever made genocide prevention a priority, and no US President has ever suffered politically for his indifference to its occurrence. It is thus no coincidence that genocide rages on."

Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel tells us that "the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference." I urge you as legislators not to be indifferent to the opportunity to create a place in the curriculum framework for genocide specific education which shows the connection between the past and the atrocities that continue to take place in Congo, Burma, and Darfur today. You have a unique opportunity to breed a generation of political will in Massachusetts that will continue to stand up against human rights abuses everywhere.

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The members of STAND raised more than $2,000 in December for genocide relief. See the stories here, here and here.