In each class, some students walked into class “disruptive” but when the film came on they were silent, captivated by the horror they were watching. This engagement lasted through the discussion. The youth were very shocked about what they saw in the video, especially the fact that there were children there. They called it scary, disgusting, heartless, and it elicited nervous laughter. In the afternoon one girl got teary eyed and when her friends made fun she said, “don’t laugh at me for crying this shit is sad.” One male student made a very true statement about the video, saying, “This is not a good advertisement for the military.”
Matthis’ point of being less of a man for having joined the military really resonated with students, nodding at what he was saying about losing your humanity in doing these acts. They were moved by both the video and Matthis’ further testimony to these outrages being daily occurrences and his use of the word genocide. It affected them that their government was just killing people in a neighborhood and it changed how they viewed the war. They could see the impact and they, for the most part, definitely didn’t want to be a part of it.
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