Greetings, bright and shining students of Crossroads.

It is time. You have arrived at the end of your study of the Cambodian Genocide. As you prepare
yourselves to move forward and develop as scholars, it is necessary to search for a deeper
meaning within this dark time in human history, one that goes beyond death tolls and historic
dates. I use the term human history to emphasize that this event is not only the property of
Cambodia or the distant past; rather, it is something that touches us all and whose impact can be
felt and recognized by all mankind. For your final project in this unit, I would like to bring our
focus closer to home.
We are presently experiencing a time of great anger and frustration in the United States. Old
systems of corruption, oppression, and racism have gained increasing publicity over the past
year. These are not new issues; rather, they are the result of hundreds of years of injustice and
discrimination that have been largely ignored until this moment, where they cannot be avoided
any longer. Though long overdue, this recognition has come at the cost of human lives. These
unjust deaths, at the hands of an organization whose purpose is to protect all citizens, have led to
outbursts of rage, pain, and a fervent desire to change the very soul of our nation. One need only
look at what has occurred, and is occurring, in Baltimore to understand the dangerous potential
of this anger and frustration.
Such national misery cannot continue. This wound must somehow be healed. There is a question
that must be answeredhow do we, as a country, heal these wounds and move forward together?
Not as a loose collection of groups split along lines that echo generations of resentment and
anger; together. I believe that an answer can be found within our study of genocide.
In this year, you have seen the terrible power of racism. You have learned of people viewed as
animals and targeted for extermination. Countries torn apart. Murder and death on an
unimaginable level. But you have also seen genocide collapse and fall short of its goal. You have
seen countries come together and those responsible made to answer for their crimes. Victim
groups have resisted destruction and have survived. Life has always continued. We know that it
is possible for a country to heal after horror, for both the perpetrator and the bystander to come
together and create a new way of living. In order to find a way to salvage our present, let us look
to the past.
Your final project for this unit will be an essay that attempts to answer the question
How does a country move on in the face of incredible wrong and injustice?
This essay must
* draw upon information from the genocides that we have studied.
* use the five MEAL paragraph format
* use size 12 font and be double spaced
* demonstrate independent thought and purposeful analysis
This paper will be due Tuesday, May 12.
As always, I eagerly welcome any and all questions.

Dive deeply into this material, I encourage you. View history as crucial to understanding our
shared now and you will understand the power and purpose of all that we have spent so many
months studying. I firmly believe that the change that will save this country, maybe this planet,
will come from your generation. Start thinking about how you are going to do it.
Best,
Mr. Pardy