A BYU-Hawaii alumnus Dr. John K. Tsukayama, who is now a history of political philosophy teacher, spoke on the subject “Bystanders to Evil: What Would You Do?” at this semester’s Honors Colloquium. Honors Colloquium is an open class every Wednesday from 3:40 to 4:40 p.m. where teachers and invited guests are asked to share who they are and what experiences they have had.Tsukayama is a 2008 graduate, finishing his bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies after nearly 25 years as an investigator and corporate exudative. In 2011 and 2012, he located and interviewed 14 American military and intelligence veterans of the Global War on Terror. In those interviews, the study participants described in detail what it was like to be confronted by the “need” to abuse detainees in order to wage the military and intelligence war against America’s enemies. While. Tsukayama has lectured previously on what motivated some of the study participants to take part in abusive violence, including torture and murder while in Iraq, in the lecture he related the experiences of Americans who saw abusive violence and tried to intervene. He also shared the participant’s stories and the cost they had to pay by those who let the abuse go unchallenged. One of the participant’s stories he shares is about a woman veteran with the alias name Sam. Sam was at the time a 25-year-old intelligent specialist at the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003. “She tells me a story about a kiss, a knife, a stone quarry, and a pair of Humvees,” began Tsukayama. Sam was leaving the army with a captain of her battalion to go to lunch at a local restaurant when they picked up a teenage boy from the side of the rode. Tsukayama goes ones to tell her story quoting Sam’s actual words. When Sam asked the captain what they were doing with the boy, the captain responded that they were taking him to jail. Instead of jail, they took the boy to a rock quarry where the captain and other soldiers began harassing the boy. Tsukayama said Sam continued to voice her concern about this situation. The captain said to Sam, “When we first got here, the boy came up and kissed me on booth cheeks, so he is a homo and we are taking him to jail.” Sam responded, “He is not gay by doing that. That is just what they do when they are happy, the Iraqi people.” Against Sam’s objections, the soldiers when on with their business. No matter what she said, she was ignored, said Tsukayama. Finally the boy ran off and Sam noticed a car that was parked full of people just watching. After the incident was reported, it was never investigated or punished. Sam’s experience was an example of someone who stood up in the face of evil, Tsukayama said, and she continued to do so every time even when she was ignored. Tsukayama’s comments provoked a lot of thoughtful questions during his lecture: Will you be a bystander or stand up? Do you have a duty to do more? He concluded, “Nobody is untouched in the presence of torture.”BYUH student Gabriela Gomez, a senior in ICS from Guatemala and Honors president, said she thought the lecture left her thinking about being a bystander or standing up. “I want to be like the soldier, Sam, and take the chance to face evil, even when I have reservations and fears,” she said.BYUH student Daniel Malinconico, a senior in ICS from New Jersey, said after the lecture, “I know that I have to make up my mind today if I will do something more to stand up for what I know is right.”
Writer: Jessica Tautfest ~ Multimedia Journalist
