Word Cloud of http://www.usmarshals.gov/witsec/
Found Poem (based off of US Marshall's website description of the Witness Protection Program)
The following poem was created by using only the words found in the Witness Protection Program description. By using this language constraint, the poem reflects limitations and silence. In the first section, I crossed out the words that would not be used for the poem. The second part is comprised of only the words chosen from the document.
Two Voices: The Invisible Man and Hush dialogue
The following dialogue consists of lines pulled directly from Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man (on the right side) and Jacqueline Woodson's Hush (on the left side). The second page provides page numbers for each line. The lines demonstrate themes of fear, silence, invisibility, and inquiry.
Personal TestimonyThe following testimony provides a scenario where students encountered racial discrimination in a public place. Then the students decided to speak out about what they witnessed.
Three students are walking on campus and hear a man yelling ahead of them. As they approach, they realize that the man is yelling very angrily at another man in a truck. From what the students can gather, they assume that the yelling man, who is standing, is upset because the truck came close to hitting him. No one appears to be harmed. As the students get closer, they can decipher what the man is yelling—racial slurs. The yelling man has an accent and the man in the truck is black. The man in the truck says nothing. The last words the man yells are “I’m going to tell your manager about this—you shouldn’t have this job.” As he yells this, he takes pictures of the truck and the man’s face with his phone, and then walks away.
The three students are jarred by the racial slurs, but do not say anything. They continue walking. Upon further reflection, the students think of the ways they could have taken action in this situation. Was walking away the right decision? Should they have intervened, and if so, how would they? The students talked about how they had wanted to stand up for the man in the truck who was being yelled at. They knew that the racial slurs were wrong, but they hadn’t seen the full incident between the two men. After weighing the options of what they should or would have done, they decided to send an email to the facilities manager. In the email, they included the street name, the time of day, and the interaction they witnessed. By doing so, they felt that they were ensuring that the racial prejudice that influenced the man’s yelling and agitation would be voiced and possibly addressed. The students used their knowledge of witnessing and responsibility to take action and not remain silent. |
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