Published in Intrepid Report on December 20, 2012
Republisehd in uruknet.info (Middle East News) on December 22, 2012
Republished in thepeoplesvoice.org on December 24, 2012
Republished in 107cowgate.com (Ireland/Scotland) on December 27, 2012
By Larry Pinkney
“There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.”—Howard Zinn
The horrific December 14, 2012, massacre of innocent victims in Newtown, Connecticut, now joins a litany of horrible massacres—including the Columbine massacre (Colorado) on April 20, 1999, the Virginia Tech massacre (Virginia) on April 16, 2007, the Geneva County massacre (Alabama) on March 10, 2009, the Fort Hood massacre (Texas) on November 5, 2009, and the Aurora massacre (Colorado) on July 20, 2012. In other words, in the past twelve years there have been at least six very publicized massacres in this nation, four of which have occurred since the year 2009 alone.
Why is massive violence increasingly so prevalent within this nation, and does it have a connection to the sustained and enormous violence carried out by the U.S. government against ordinary people and sovereign countries in other parts of the world?
There is indeed a connection—a very real and dangerous connection.
In his April 4, 1967, speech, Beyond Vietnam: A Time To Break Silence, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., poignantly described the government of the United States as “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today . . .” Sadly, in this 21st century, Dr. King’s words are even more relevant and accurate.
Military force (i.e. violence) continues to be the so-called ‘American Way.’ The wanton military violence practiced by the U.S. government, under the leadership of its ‘Kill List,’ drone missile U.S. president, Barack Obama, is a violence that is eating at the very heart and soul of the politically and spiritually besieged populace of this nation; and no amount of government and/or corporate-stream media distortion and rationalization changes this fact.
U.S. society is spiritually and politically disintegrating internally, and one of the signs of this are the horrendous massacres experienced of and by ordinary people inside this nation itself. Those in the U.S. who selectively demand strict ‘gun control’ should be simultaneously demanding an immediate end to the U.S. drone missile massacres in other parts of the world to say the very least. Missiles and guns, etc., do not murder people on their own—it’s the people who direct the missiles and pull the triggers that do!
The precious lives that were recently lost at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, were as precious as the lives of the myriads of young children and adults that have been callously snuffed out in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia (East Africa), and Libya (North Africa) by Barack Obama’s incessant and deadly drone missile attacks, etc.
It is noteworthy that the renowned human rights lawyer and law professor Bill Quigley has indicated that in Afghanistan alone, “231 children were killed in the first six months of this year.” This is outrageous and unacceptable—and yes, there is a definite connection between what we do to butcher people abroad and why we increasingly slaughter one another here at home.
In her timely and excellent article entitled, “Standing Strong Against the Furies,” associate professor Jennifer Browdy de Hernandez puts it this way: “It is hypocritical to weep crocodile tears for the slaughter of innocent children in a kindergarten in Connecticut but to callously ignore the slaughter of innocent children by American drone fire in places like Afghanistan and Pakistan.”
The notion and actualized policy of U.S. ‘exclusivity’ (i.e. the belief that the U.S. government can do whatever it wants in violation of human rights, international law, and/or even the U.S. Constitution) makes it a rogue government at odds with the vast majority of humankind. The overt and covert message (put forth by the U.S. government and the corporate-stream media) that U.S. hegemony and might makes right—is an archaic, fallacious, and perilous one. It is a message that is literally killing everyday ordinary Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people inside this nation and throughout Mother Earth.
This corporate owned government’s hypocrisy and violence at home and abroad is summarized in this excerpt from the powerfully incisive poem, DRONE MAN,by Raymond Nat Turner:
Then, again, there’s Drone Man,
Posing as mild-mannered,
Family man—of the Gambino,
Boeing, Lockheed-Martin,
Lucchese type—
Compassionate professor of
Constitutional law, defender
Of free world, truth, justice,
The Amerikan way: fighting for
Troops, bases, oil and empire
Drone Man’s heart goes out
To victims of “senseless violence,”
Not those of coolly calculated
Corporate violence . . .
Drone Man’s prayers comfort the
Fallen in Any Town, USA, but not
Wedding parties in Pakistan, some—
What inconvenienced by multiple
Missile strikes . . .
Drone Man decries despots
Drenching their “own people”
In crimson showers, but shrugs
His shoulders about beating and
Gassing Occupiers, under stars and stripes . . .
In order to end the violence in this nation we must address the root causes of this violence. The root causes can be found, in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., deeply embedded in our “own [corporate-controlled] government.” The corporate-owned ‘Drone Man’ (Barack Obama) and his Democratic and Republican party political pimps are very cognizant of why violence is so prevalent in U.S. society—for they are the de facto purveyors of it in this nation and throughout the world. It serves their purposes and designs. Never be deceived by their crocodile tears.
On the other hand, we the ordinary everyday people, have the right and the responsibility to collectively expose and remove these corrupt political and economic bloodsuckers. They are the bane of this nation, of humanity, and of Mother Earth.
Be creative! Be determined! And be principled and strong in this long and protracted struggle. We must not condone mass murder at home or abroad. Notwithstanding the brainwashing machinations by the corporate-stream media and Hollywood, et al—we must refuse to glorify mass murder no matter what flag it is wrapped in. Moreover, we must stop turning to corporate-owned war criminals for condolences over the very violence that they themselves are perpetuating.
It is our own humanity that is at stake. The corporate-owned warmongers lost their humanity long ago. Yet, we must be about the pursuit of bringing to fruition a New Woman, a New Man—A NEW HUMAN!
Remember: Each one, reach one! Each one, teach one! Onward, then, my sisters and brothers. Onward!
Larry Pinkney is a veteran of the Black Panther Party, the former Minister of Interior of the Republic of New Africa, a former political prisoner and the only American to have successfully self-authored his civil/political rights case to the United Nations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In connection with his political organizing activities, Pinkney was interviewed in 1988 on the nationally televised PBS News Hour, formerly known as The MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour, and more recently on the nationally syndicated Alex Jones Show. Pinkney is a former university instructor of political science and international relations, and his writings have been published in various places, including The Boston Globe, San Francisco BayView newspaper, Black Commentator, Intrepid Report, Global Research (Canada), LINKE ZEITUNG (Germany), 107 Cowgate (Ireland and Scotland), and Mayihlome News (Azania/South Africa). He is in the archives of Dr. Huey P. Newton (Stanford University, CA), cofounder of the Black Panther Party. For more about Larry Pinkney see the book, Saying No to Power: Autobiography of a 20th Century Activist and Thinker, by William Mandel [Introduction by Howard Zinn]. (Click here to read excerpts from the book.)
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