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Sarah Simons
My freshman year of college I took
American Civilization with Professor
Brian Roberts. We read many books that
semester, but one struck me more than
the others. It was written by a
journalist who traveled to El Salvador
and interviewed the sole survivor of a
massacre that happened in a small
village called El Mozote. He brought
her story back to the United States
through various articles and
publications, and eventually put it all
together to form The Massacre at El
Mozote. At the end of the semester,
I sold back every single book except
The Massacre at El Mozote. The book
touched me in a strange way—I could not
reread it because it made me too sad,
yet I could not bring myself to sell it
back to the bookstore. So it has sat in
my room ever since, both forgotten and
unforgotten.
Four
years later, I found myself at the
School of the Americas Protest in Fort
Benning, Georgia. When we arrived at
the main gates, there was a giant
portrait of a woman who had just passed
away. Her name is Rufina Amaya. As
speaker after speaker entered the stage
and made various comments about her, I
began to piece together her history and
her connection to the School of the
Americas. She was the sole survivor of
a massacre in a small El Salvador town,
a massacre carried out by graduates of
the School of the Americas. The village
where the massacre took place is called
El Mozote. I quickly realized that it
was Rufina Amaya who was responsible for
so much of the content of The
Massacre at El Mozote, the book I
both deliberately kept and deliberately
did not reread from my freshman year in
college. I immediately felt more
strongly connected to the cause of the
School of the Americas protest as I
thought about the reasons the book
struck me in such a compelling way.
When I
first read The Massacre at El Mozote
I was not ready to accept all the social
evils happening in the world. I could
not reread the book because it was so
troubling to me—it was easier to lock my
knowledge of these problems somewhere
deep in the back of my mind than to face
their existence through further research
and exploration. But now, four years
later, I am ready to accept
responsibility for the things I can do
something about and the things I can
educate myself about. Attending the
School of the Americas protest helped me
realize that. As one person, I can only
do so much—but the combined knowledge
and strength of many individuals can
make for a powerful movement. Seeing
thousands of voices united against the
School of the Americas is a reminder
that great things can be accomplished
when many stand together for a single
purpose. I am heading home for the
holidays—and when I get there, I am
going to reread The Massacre at El
Mozote. And then I am going to
share it with others.
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