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PROJECTS — On the Oral History Panel Video:
A compelling piece of work - a superb example of where words alone say more than all the glitzy images you could imagine . . . great job! . . . invaluable.
To remember My Lai, to come to terms with its meaning in ethical terms, is the profound task to which this tape addresses itself. Each member of the panel, speaking with evident emotion, recalls his own participation in the event and struggles to explain and understand it. The tape itself is testament to the effort to live a moral life in the midst of the ongoing atrocities of this century. For those of us who teach, the tape is an invaluable aid as we work to enable students to deal with the central issues raised by the actions of Charlie Company in Vietnam so many years ago.
We generally don't think of heroes when we think of the sordid episode that has come to be known as the My Lai massacre, the darkest day of a very dark chapter in American history, but heroes there were both during and after the fact. You will meet three of them on this tape. You are not likely to forget them.
Watching these three men - one who witnessed the My Lai massacre, one who exposed it, and one who prosecuted its perpetrators - is at once a horrifying, riveting, and profoundly moving experience. This tape would be an extraordinary springboard for classroom discussion; but in truth it is much more. Anyone who hopes to come to terms with the tragedy of the Vietnam War, or who wishes to contemplate the war's meaning for America, should see it.
This tape is an essential tool for courses addressing the Vietnam War era in American history. Its use of eyewitnesses is effective because their testimony, which students will find both accessible and moving, informs rather than preaches and builds to a consensus on the meaning and lessons of My Lai for American society.
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