Driving Ms. Rose

Paper Summary:

This paper presents the personal narractive of the experiences of a student who was required to do community service in an old age home as a punishment for committing a hate crime. The writer describes her relationship with one of the residents of the home and the interactions they had with each other. The writer then explains the lessons that she learned from this resident about hate crimes.

From the Paper:

"Talking to Rose, I came to understand that racism is a very dangerous and seductive enemy. For example, the woman who gave the photograph to her mother did not consider herself a racist or an anti-Semite. After all, her child had Jewish friends, and she was friendly with Jews. However, at some point in time that woman chose to ignore what was being done to Jews, because the majority of Germans experienced very positive changes in the early days of Hitler's regime. I came to understand that great tragedy begins with small acts of hatred, and that tolerating bigotry was probably even worse than having bigoted feelings. I heard first-hand tales from a concentration camp, and realized that the depictions I had seen in movies or television were insufficient to convey the horror of what occurred. Rose had me take her to a Holocaust memorial, and held me as I cried with the realization of what had occurred. After that day, our relationship changed. I was no longer a punk in her eyes, but her friend."

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