I shared my second posting about my first cousin who was a skinhead leader in the 1980s and 1990s with my writing group of the last few years. Generally the critique was positive, there was an agreement that it was a valuable story to share, despite the family connection and possible repercussions from family for sharing it, if perceived as denigrating family members. Personal experience has taught me of the risk involved when writing on family, and it is always a concern.
I wanted to clear up some questions that were raised by my writing group. I have found my writing group to be invaluable in my education on the craft of writing, and I wish to incorporate what I was critiqued on in this post.
Perhaps this will be edifying to those who read my prior Substack posting.
There was a good critique that my writing did not show evidence that my cousin was indeed intelligent as I so stated. I will have to say that my conclusion of this was from the author of the book (White American Youth) in which he describes my relative in detail. Note that I have yet to read this book. I must admit I perhaps part of me does not want to know more of this man’s story. There is an uncomfortableness, which generally indicates to me that further exploration and personal synthesis is required. My online correspondence with the author gave me a better view of this family member. From these “online messages” it became clear that my cousin was described as a natural leader, and it seemed there was a misdirected intelligence. The author said he was convinced that this young man was mentally ill. My sister does not think so, as she has a medical background and is aware of existing mental illness within the family. I tend to think too that he perhaps was not mentally ill.
So from what I have learned, and from his brief moments of fame on the Oprah Winfrey Show, I concluded that there was perhaps better than average intelligence in this man.
I was told that I should have led with the detail of my cousin beating up the woman for quitting the group and smearing a swastika on the wall in her blood. In terms of written craft, this indeed might be the most compelling introduction. My sensibilities are such that this seems too raw and blunt in writing of a family member, but indeed if rewriting the story I would do so. This is a horrible event showing reprehensible behavior deserved of prison time. And this indicted to one fellow writer as perhaps evidence that my cousin was not intelligent and probably mentally ill.
The interest in the audience reaction of the Oprah Show conversation brought discussion. I had naturally assumed that when the audience applauded at the introduction of my relative calling from prison, I assumed that the approval was because he was incarcerated for his crimes. But several in the writing group said some approval may have been for this inmate himself, by others of white supremacy. As the Oprah audience appeared to be very mixed, I must say that this may be true. Hence my writing did not necessarily address this properly. My reaction to the YouTube video was that Oprah was taken back by this young inmate’s conversation with her, perhaps shocked by his apparent confidence.
I was unclear in my writing of the current status of this relative, is he still alive, or deceased. As his body has never showed up and is missing we assume he was murdered. As the author wrote to me “I believe [he] was murdered in Texas in 1998 by the boyfriend of his daughter's mother. I'm still investigating.” So for the family at this time this is our common understanding, primarily through the author’s work.
I had a comment that I stated in my writing that this skinhead had been with the wrong crowd. True this is rather insipid to write. I had intended some dark humor in my writing, but perhaps this did not shine through.
It was generally thought helpful that I wrote some of the neuroscience on hate. There was disagreement if I approached it correctly. My intention was to state my general modus operandi in my writing for general information.
A very good point was stated that with my personal knowledge of my cousin I could not substantiate that our shared childhoods were necessarily equivalent. There could have been childhood trauma, or such which I was unaware of. This I thought useful to state in this posting.
A certain writer with film and acting experience commented that this cousin of mine was indeed an interesting character. Why did he turn to hate? This was the essence of my attempted writing on this man, it too is a question which I have pondered. It is a quite sad and sober story within my family. One with no happy ending, only numbing questions.
So this is the autopsy of my second posting on January 30, 2023 from my writing group. One member said she dislikes critiquing writing which has already been presented to the public, as it is too late to matter. But I must say that I appreciate what was told me, as it is a learning experience, and I was not sorry for sharing.
7th Posting, February 9, 2023
Yes, I understand. I thought that this was worth discussion in this day and age. And my writing did not clear up the true background of this story, and those whose council I have relied upon for its accuracy, and for my understanding. And my small amount of dwelling in genealogy certainly strengthens in my mind your conclusion on family stories. I appreciate the comment.
This is interesting. I am also part of the family. After working with genealogy for the past decade, I have learned that some family stories are true (or at least supported by evidence) and some just seem to be false or at least falsely interpreted.