|
Comment on this article |
View comments |
Email this Article
|
|
News :: Miscellaneous |
|
Oklahoma City NOT the worst terrorist act in the U.S. |
Current rating: 0 |
by aka
(No verified email address) |
08 Jun 2001
|
|
The worst terrorist act in U.S. history, or just the worst that wasn't aimed at non-white Americans? |
It seems to be the media catchphrase when talking about the 168 deaths in the Oklahoma City bombing to call it, as CNN does, \"the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil\" (http://www.cnn.com/US/OKC/bombing.html).
This is a very selective view of what comprises \"terrorist\" activities. Here are a few mentions of some other events in the United States of America that I think deserve mention here. It\'s easy to overlook when it\'s the government pretending to act for the good of the country, but these acts were more terroristic in the eyes of many and killed many more than McVeigh\'s bomb(s).
**The Trail of Tears**
\"An estimated 4,000 died from hunger, exposure and disease. The journey became an eternal memory as the \'trail where they cried\' for the Cherokees and other removed tribes. Today, it is remembered as the \'Trail of Tears.\'\"
From: The official site of the Cherokee nation: http://www.cherokee.org/Culture/HistoryPage.asp?Recordset4_Action=Find(\'ID\',\'2\')&Recordset4_Position=FIL%3AORD%3AABS%3A2KEY%3A2PAR%3A
\"Trail of Tears, forced exodus of Cherokee in 1838 and 1839 from their southeastern homeland to the Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma. About 4000 died from starvation, disease, and exposure while on the journey westward or in stockades awaiting removal. \" From MSN Encarta: http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?z=1&pg=2&ti=761584407
**Wounded Knee**
Before the \"actual\" massacre: \"The South Dakota home guard engaged in two of their own massacres. The guard sent its best riders to the Pine Ridge Reservation to shoot into the Ghost Dancers at the Strong Hold. They led the Ghost Dancers into a trap and killed and scalped seventy-five of them.\"
And a few days later: \"December 29,1890: Colonel Forsyth attempted to disarm Chief Big Foot\'s band. The women and children were separated from the men. The soldiers were very abusive. Big Foot was sick with pneumonia and flying a white flag of truce next to his tent. The Indians were almost completely disarmed and completely surrounded by the soldiers. When the soldiers attempted to take the rifle of a deaf mute, it discharged and the soldiers opened up on the Indians. About three hundred of Big Foot\'s band were killed. About thirty soldiers also died, many in their own crossfire. Some women and children were found as far as two miles away, gunned down by soldiers.\"
Above 2 quotes from: http://www.dickshovel.com/wkup.html
\"Sioux casualties totaled 153 dead and 44 wounded, half of whom were unarmed women and children.\" From: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jamarcus/ammmy.html
\"Approx 300 Sioux died at wounded knee\": http://www.ibiscom.com/knee.htm
\"Accounts of the precise events and the death toll vary considerably but it is likely that the soldiers killed between 150 and 370 Sioux men, women, and children, the great majority of whom were unarmed bystanders\" From MSN Encarta: http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?ti=05AEA000
Although I do not consider MSN a major source, the others were \"pro-Indian\" sites, and I wanted to balance them with a mainstream source. As you can see, these facts themselves are not particulary debated.
However, why are they so easily forgotten when talking about Oklahoma City? Yes, it was a terrible tragedy, but one tragedy does not cancel out others. And they were much, much larger.
I\'m sorry I couldn\'t take the time to write this out as a proper \"article,\" but I think these facts need to be remembered. And although when they say this was the largest attack they mean the largest numer of deaths resulting from a single event, there were many more black men lynched than that in the South throughout the past couple of centuries, along with many more state sanctioned executions, including those of innocent and mentally ill people.
We should be outraged at Oklahoma City, whether McVeigh acted alone or whether the FBI did it all, but these events were largely perpetrated by the government and everyday people in this country and cannot be overlooked. To call OK City the worst mass killing smacks of our rich heritage of racism in this country. Either that or, as is no surprise to me, the media is more interested in instilling fear and anger through hyperbole to sell a story than in any sort of fair historical context or truth. |
See also:
http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=45657&group=webcast
|
|
Could a Tech Person Fix This? |
by ML
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
08 Jun 2001
|
Yo Tech Gods,
I think the form page is failing to wrap long URLs, resulting in these excessive page widths. Is there any way to fix this?
Thanks. |
