The Violent Exceptionalism of The United States
The power of Mother Earth is undeniable. We continue to protect her even when man tries to desecrate her. Pray for our brothers and sister at Standing Rock.
It’s a long read, but please take a moment if you can.
Today at 2pm CST, the Army Corps and Dept of Defense have announced they will forcibly remove and arrest any water protectors still at the Oceti Oyate Standing Rock camp.
This country has an exceptionalism complex. I truly believe my job is to question that exceptionalism, to critique it, and to resist against it.
It’s this exceptionalism complex, a complex that allows the US to believe it is somehow a country superior to any other and can operate with some magical righteous impunity, that has murdered, enslaved and oppressed people of color, the poor, and “other.”
This exceptionalism complex has allowed this country to be unapologetic of its original and continued sins. In 1997, Bill Clinton while providing an apology to the black soldiers that were survivors of the vile and inhumane Tuskegee experiments, was asked whether he and the U.S. would apologize for slavery. He said he would think about it.
The blinding exceptionalism has made the vast majority of people believe we live in a just and suitable society. A society where, in 2015, not a single officer in the entire country was found guilty of murder after 1000+ people were killed by U.S. police. But we live in a just world, remember?
An exceptionalism that allows the CIA to directly and knowingly bring cocaine into the urban cities in the the 1980’s, devastating generations of people of color, but specifically Black folks, in order to raise black market money to send to the US supported troops in Nicaragua fighting Ronald Raegan’s hidden war against a leftist government. Yes, this really happened (look it up). This government single handily created the crack epidemic in our urban cities — with impunity.
It’s this exceptionalism the granted the US government the obscene gall in 1823, through a US Supreme Court decision, to exercise the despicable “Doctrine of Discovery” that states natives were only allowed to occupy land, but not own land because their “right of occupancy” was declared “subordinate” to the US’ “Right of Discover.” That means, if a white man discovered land that had been occupied by Natives, it legally became his under the law.
What about the exceptionalism of Andrew Jackson, in 1830, passing the Indian Removal Bill, to forcibly remove natives from their land in order for the US Gov’t to take the land and sell it off.
Let’s not forget when natives were demanded, in the late 1800s, to move to their newly-created reservation, and if they didn’t, they would be considered “hostile” and would be arrested or killed by US cavalry. They were massacred. Sound familiar?
To this day, the exceptionalism this country blinds itself with is cancerous and oppressive. We are witnessing the modern-day cavalry, land grabs, and violence. Cancerous exceptionalism is violent and harmful no matter what century, 1800s or 2000s, it is still the same result: oppression of the people for the sole purpose of money.
We are oppressed people. It is real, it is tangible, it is visible, and it is felt. If you need proof, look at Standing Rock. The Gov’t stealing land from natives, selling it to private corporations, without the consideration of potential harm.
It’s our time to wake up. It’s out time to bring enlistment to ourselves and our world. We are on a crash course with history, and unfortunately we are winning — a century of oppression that is set to be worst that the past.
The most patriotic thing we can do — hold this government accountable for its intentional terror, violence, and economic oppression. I will no longer stand for it. Our government can no longer act with impunity. We must charge it with the crimes it has committed.
If they are willing to eviscerate the first people of this land, the people with the moral and natural right to this land; what stops this same system from pushing anyone else out of the way to ensure they have access to the financial capital they want?
There’s much more to write…. but my thoughts end here for the moment.
In solidarity and love for the oppressed people of the world.
We will win.
