Wounded Knee
Today is Wednesday, 29 December 2010.
On this date in 1890, one hundred and twenty years ago, elements of the U.S. Army, in a culminating act of state-sponsored terrorism, assassinated as many as 300 Lakota at Wounded Knee.
There are those American citizens who will disclaim any responsibility: “I never killed an Indian”, just as there are those who say, “I never owned a Black slave”.
These squeal and squirm in the fashion of Margaret Thatcher, who famously and fatuously proclaimed, “There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families.”
But of course, societies exist. And in societies which claim to be democracies, such as the USA/USE, the citizens are each severally and all together responsible for the prior acts of the society from which they derive benefit, regardless of whether or not they personally committed such acts. All American citizens benefit from the conquest of the land, from the attempted genocide of Native Americans, and from the theft of labor from enslaved Blacks, the profits of which were largely responsible for building the foundations of American industrialization.
Wounded Knee is our common crime, and must never be forgotten or forgiven.
On this date in 1890, one hundred and twenty years ago, elements of the U.S. Army, in a culminating act of state-sponsored terrorism, assassinated as many as 300 Lakota at Wounded Knee.
There are those American citizens who will disclaim any responsibility: “I never killed an Indian”, just as there are those who say, “I never owned a Black slave”.
These squeal and squirm in the fashion of Margaret Thatcher, who famously and fatuously proclaimed, “There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families.”
But of course, societies exist. And in societies which claim to be democracies, such as the USA/USE, the citizens are each severally and all together responsible for the prior acts of the society from which they derive benefit, regardless of whether or not they personally committed such acts. All American citizens benefit from the conquest of the land, from the attempted genocide of Native Americans, and from the theft of labor from enslaved Blacks, the profits of which were largely responsible for building the foundations of American industrialization.
Wounded Knee is our common crime, and must never be forgotten or forgiven.
posted by HH at 2:23 PM
2 Comments:
Such an "upper" end-of-year topic.
Re: the topic - What do you suggest, HH? Do we collectively flagellate ourselves for the sins of our fathers? From your view, we are all guilty of multiple crimes from centuries past. There is no way to attone for such things.
Yes, we need to do right in the future. But good Good, man, do we tear down all that we have because it was built on the backs of oppressed millions? What do you propose?
Thanks for the comment. I'll have a response, and more "upperness", before year's end.
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