A Justice Site
Discussion: Between Vengeance and Forgiveness
Don't We All Bleed the Same?
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Created: January 25, 2001
Latest Update: January 25, 2001
Curran or
Takata.
Review and Teaching Essay by Jeanne Curran and Susan R. Takata
Copyright: Jeanne Curran and Susan R. Takata, January 2001. "Fair Use" encouraged.
This essay is based on Between Vengeance and Forgiveness: Facing History after Genocide and Mass Violence. Martha Minow. Professor, Harvard Law. Beacon Press. 1998. ISBN: 0-8070-4507-1 (pbk.) Jeanne ordered this at Vroman's for $14.00.
Susan and I have been discussing Martha Minow's work throughout years of teaching about difference and incorporating difference without structural violence. We have used several of her books in our teaching. This Spring's Moot Court course is focussed on a legal discussion of issues of difference.
Patricia Acone, who was profoundly touched by Minow's approach in Between Vengeance and Forgiveness, began our discourse with a thread in our academic discourse on January 24, 2001. And then on the morning of January 25, 2001, in the Los Angeles Times, the Column One headline, on p.1, blared "Lest Hate Victim Be Forgotten." By Jocelyn Stuart.
One of the most exhausting things about maintaining this site is that the themes of our discourse appear almost daily in the news. This provides each of you with abundant resources to join in the discussions, and I'll do my best to keep up with at least the tip of the iceberg on all these current events. I couldn't resist this morning bringing your attention to the prevalence of this theme of society's need to address this issue.
Jocelyn Stuart's article in the LA Times recounted the plea bargain of . . . brief summary . . .
Here we see the agony of which Minow speaks at the individual level. the suffereing of the Ileto family reflects the same fear that the victim be forgotten that is reflected in mass torture and killings. This effect, multiplied thousands of times over, affects the ability of the society itself to heal. The needs Minow identifies: recognition of the suffering of the victims, and the need to hold perpetrators accountable for their actions, are reflected in this individual case.
Draw the conceptual links to vengeance, retribution, and forgiveness. Then discussion question for student entry into discourse. . .