PRESS RELEASE BY THE American Indian Movement Grand Governing Council The American Indian Movement Peace Statement September 15, 2001
The American Indian Movement Grand Governing Council vehemently condemns the recent acts of violence and terrorism perpetrated against innocent civilians in the United States. We condemn similar acts of violence and terrorism perpetrated by all governments and organizations against innocent civilians worldwide.
THE AMERICAN INDIAN MOVEMENT GRAND GOVERNING COUNCIL DECLARES:
Our hearts go out to the victims and their families, and we mourn with them the loss of their loved ones. As a people who have historically suffered similar crimes against humanity perpetrated against peaceful Indian villages in the North America, and continuing today against Indian civilians in several countries of Central and South America, we nonetheless at this time grieve and join our prayers and spirits with the families of the innocent victims of these acts of violence in New York City, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C.
However, we caution and remind the U.S. Government leaders that all faiths of the world are taught that violence begets violence. Mahatma Ghandi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. have proven the power of non-violence. Our great chiefs like Blackhawk and Chief Joseph, in the face of great adversity, were men of peace and non-violence. Blackhawk, who correctly observed at that time, when he asked the question, "Why is it that you Americans always insist on taking with a gun what you could have through love?"
With acts of love, we can become the most respected government and people in the world, and we will prevail. If we continue the cycles of violence, we will continue to be the most despised in many parts of the world, and we will fail. We must continue to pray for justice and world peace.
CONTACT:
We have received many letters and essays regarding the September 11, 2001 attack on the United States. We have decided to begin publishing some of these. The following article by Tim Wise is an example of what we think needs to be said. We think the American people should understand and not forget the past so that tomorrow is better for everyone.
October 8, 2001
"We stand united," comes the proclamation from America's
political leaders and national media. "Americans are pulling
together like never before," say still others, in the wake
of the horrific attacks of September 11. American flags are
popping up everywhere: on lapel pins, car antennae, hastily
printed T-shirts, and as inserts in the newspaper; the
latter, for those who want to show their national pride but
can't hustle it down to the local Target or Wal-Mart to pick
up a fancier version.
And so it is amid this outpouring of manufactured and
marketed patriotism, this presumption of national unity,
that one might take note of the lingering signs that we are,
in point of fact, anything but one nation. Osama bin Laden
aside, and duly noting the ability of a common enemy to
oftentimes paper over existing divisions for the time being,
the simple truth is, fissures are everywhere.
One such fault line emerged this past week, when Officer
Stephen Roach, of the Cincinnati Police Department was
acquitted on all charges stemming from his April shooting of
Timothy Thomas: the 15th young black man killed by police
there in the last few years.
Roach, who shot an unarmed Thomas after chasing him down an
alleyway, was praised by the Judge in the case as having had
an "unblemished" record, as opposed to Thomas, who the Judge
stressed "did not." Indeed, Thomas had fourteen outstanding
citations against him, mostly for traffic violations.
Apparently, in this unified nation, such misdemeanors are
sufficient to justify being killed if you then run from
police for fear of being either arrested or possibly roughed
up -- as Cincinnati cops have been known to do from time to
time.
Not only was the negligent homicide charge dismissed, but so
too was the charge that Roach had obstructed the ensuing
police investigation by lying repeatedly about the incident.
Although there was no attempt to deny Roach had lied --
first claiming Thomas had "reached for something in his
waistband," and then saying he was startled by Thomas coming
around a corner -- the Judge threw out the charge anyway,
saying it had no significant effect on the investigation.
That such light treatment of intentional police deception
might set a bad precedent for future incidents was
apparently of no concern to the judge.
Were such things extraordinarily rare, one might be inclined
to chalk them up to aberration. But in fact, it is all too
common for people of color to be on the receiving end of
police brutality, even to the point of death. As the Stolen
Lives Project has documented, there are hundreds of cases in
the last few years of persons killed by law enforcement
officers; an overwhelming number of these unarmed, and black
or brown. And it is the rare instance when even one of these
results in anything more severe than an administrative
punishment for the offending cop. In fact, it is just as
likely that the officer involved in such an incident will
receive a raise and commendations, as it is that they will
ever serve a day in jail.
And so despite the rhetoric of national unity, the deep
divisions in our criminal justice system, especially
regarding police misconduct towards people of color, rear
their ugly head again and remind us that unity is, after
all, just a word.
Or more to the point, unity is in the eye of the beholder,
as are most things. Perspective is shaped by experience; and
not just one experience like the World Trade Center attacks,
but a multitude of experiences over one's lifetime.
Perspective grows directly from one's position, for it is
from that position that one surveys the stuff of everyday
existence. For those who are used to feeling safe and
secure, the events of this past month will no doubt have had
a particularly jarring effect. But for others, terrorism
from abroad may only feel like a more extreme manifestation
of everyday life.
Amid the horror of September 11, many a voice has been
raised to exclaim that "now, we Americans finally know what
it's like" to be the targets of someone else's hatred. Of
course, were it not for the resurgent hyper-nationalism that
has characterized the past few weeks perhaps we might have
noticed that some Americans have long understood what it
means to be targeted for who they are. To be terrorized,
attacked, even killed. All the "we're all in this together"
blather aside, there are millions of Americans who never
felt safe. Never felt secure. Never assumed that their
citizenship protected them from anything, for indeed it
never has.
For far too many people of color, poor folks of all colors,
and gays and lesbians, there was no sense of security to
shatter. No feeling of invincibility to which Osama bin
Laden could even theoretically lay waste. For these
Americans, the possibility of being the victims of targeted
violence or institutional neglect is all too real, and those
they have learned to fear are anything but foreign.
Whether the violence of individual thugs, organized hate
groups, police, or lawmakers who turn the other way as
poverty, infant mortality and inadequate health care ravage
entire communities, the result is the same: injured is
injured, and dead is most certainly dead. Dying as the
result of a plane crash or crumbling building may indeed be
more dramatic, and the thought of it is certainly more
ghastly. But I doubt it is any more painful or any more
final than any of the multitudinous ways that tens of
thousands of our nation's least powerful have been dying for
many a year now.
Of course, a nation that is proud of its selective memory --
only remembering the parts of our past that flatter us while
studiously avoiding mention of the rest -- won't be able to
see any of this. A nation whose dominant majority never
heard of the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 -- which really wasn't
a riot so much as a white orgy of violence against the
city's prosperous black business community -- will naturally
think terrorism on American soil is a recent phenomenon. A
nation whose dominant majority has no idea what happened in
Rosewood, Florida, and that has forgotten the lynching
parties, known as "Negro Barbecues" that were a common
occurrence in the South not so long ago, will naturally be
stunned at the barbarity of the Arab or the Muslim
"fanatic." That white-on-black race riots were a common
thread linking North, South, East and West for most of the
first fifty years of the twentieth century, ultimately
costing hundreds of lives and destroying millions of dollars
worth of property, remains unspoken -- presumably irrelevant
in our discussions of terrorism, unity, or national bonding.
So too the terroristic enterprise whose actions led to the
founding and building of the United States in the first
place: namely, the marauding bands of cavalry, assorted
soldiers and so-called pioneers who instigated vicious and
depraved attacks on Indian peoples. And this they did, not
only so they could take their land, but also so as to break
down their resistance, instill fear in their hearts and
minds, and force them to retreat against the advance of our
collective vision. Pretty much the textbook definition of
terrorism, truth be told.
I'm thinking here of Captain William Tucker, who in the
1600's, took his soldiers to negotiate a peace treaty with
the Powhatans, after which he persuaded them to drink a
toast with poisoned wine. Two hundred died immediately and
his soldiers killed fifty more, bringing back heads as
souveniers.
And I'm thinking of Thomas Jefferson, who 153 years later,
unsatisfied with the pace at which Indians were cooperating
by dying, would write: "nothing will reduce those wretches
so soon as pushing the war into the heart of their country.
But I would not stop there. I would never cease pursuing
them with war while one remained on the face of the Earth."
And I'm thinking of Andrew Jackson, who supervised the
mutilation of over 800 Indian corpses after the Battle of
Horseshoe Bend, at which time his men cut off noses and
sliced strips of flesh from the bodies for use as bridle
reins.
Or perhaps the Third Colorado Volunteer Cavalry, which
massacred Cheyenne and Arapaho noncombatants at Sand Creek,
and then scalped the dead, severed testicles for use as
tobacco pouches, and paraded in the streets of Denver with
severed female genitals stretched over their hats.
Yes, terrorism on American soil is anything but new. And
while there are clear and important differences between the
twisted Taliban or al-Qu'aeda network on the one hand, and
this nation's founders, like Jefferson on the other, the
fact remains -- as mentioned previously -- that dead is
dead. To the victims of the latter, it hardly matters that
in his better moments, he might have waxed eloquent about
representative democracy.
And just as the heinous destruction of 6,000 or so lives at
the hands of hijackers this month will be remembered
forever, so too must these other acts of terror. That
individually they may have involved lower body counts, and
that we didn't get to see the damage done on live television
seems fairly irrelevant. Terrorism is not defined by the
enormity of its death toll, after all.
So while the majority of Americans (especially whites) may
see the recent attacks by presumed outsiders as sui generis
in their nation's history, for many Indian peoples, African
Americans, and others who have been the victims of targeted,
hate-inspired violence, the tragedy, while appalling, had
the ring of the familiar to it. Even if it is only part of
the collective memory and historical consciousness of such
folks, such a knowledge that one is never safe so long as
one lacks power and resources, is a vital truth which must
inform our current analysis.
At the very least, it should give us pause when we presume a
national unity, a collective brother and sisterhood, or a
common experience. Our experiences are not common. Our
treatment is not equal. And nothing about that has changed
since September 11th.
--
Tim Wise is a Nashville-based writer, lecturer and
antiracism activist.
Copyright (c) 2001 Tim Wise. All Rights Reserved.
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