Patch and writing by Betsy Cohn, my academic advisor and mentor at Goucher College and member of the committee that oversaw this project

Hannah,

You asked us to add to your quilt by answering the question: "What message can your life send to the world?" or "What has been one defining moment in your life that has helped shape the way you see the world?" My panel primarily answers the first question, but touches on the second question as well.

My panel, called "Speaking Truth to Power," has three golden arrows pointing from a bright multi-colored Central America to a red-white-and-blue United States of America, with three black beaded people near Central America. 

Central America is larger in size than the United States to show my desire to amplify the voice that emanates from Central America, particularly given the distorted picture presented in the United States. The arrows are golden, to represent the truth, the reality of the people of Central America (acknowledging of course that there is no one truth in the world, no objective reality). The map of Central America is bright, rainbow colored, like the indigenous weavings of Guatemala to represent the hope as well as the pain of the Central American people. The United States is red-white-and-blue because it sums up the patriotism of the dominant American culture and how the government and the people wrap themselves in the flag instead of thinking in any meaningful way about how the United States and US-based institutions function in the world. The beaded figures are made from a necklace I bought in Nicaragua in the 1980s and are there to represent the people, el pueblo, (and my defining moment of working with Nicaragua in the 1980s), because far too often politics and economics are discussed without consideration of the people and who benefits and who loses from specific political and economic policies. 

In 1982 I founded and directed the Central American Historical Institute in Washington, DC, a research group affiliated with the Jesuits in Central America. In the midst of the Reagan Administration's attacks on the Nicaraguan revolution, I tried for six years, in this defining moment in my life, to speak truth to power. I was only 25 when I founded the Institute and believed so strongly in justice and what was right, that it never occurred to me that I would face the enormous hostility--personal at times--of the Reagan Administration and its right-wing supporters. It wasn't always easy, but I'm enormously grateful for those years and the opportunities I had to speak truth to power. In my current position as a professor at Goucher, I continue to speak to my students about the lives of people in Central and South America and how our government and Washington-based agencies such as the World Bank and IMF influence Latin American realities. 

Whereas Central America dominated the news in the 1980s and I found myself responding to the lies and distortions and trying to shift the agenda set by the Administration and the media, today there is silence. We hear nothing from the Administration or the media on the realities of the Nicaraguan, Salvadoran, Guatemalan people. Yet, their suffering is greater, the long-term impact of US government policies, whether direct or indirect through multilateral agencies, is still great. The need to speak truth to power is greater, particularly since the number of voices in this country speaking out are diminished. I am grateful for your voice. 

This is my part. This is my hope.

Betsy