A Story Never Told

Remember who runs our media.

Chain saws? Fucking chain saws.

Here's a "Free Trade" story that will NOT be coming to a network near you. It's also an important reminder for me why I don't support The Democratic Party.

But let's all watch the Super Bowl!

   

Flavors of Violence I

Violence

vi·o·lence

   [vahy-uh-luhns]  Show IPA

noun

1.

swift and intense force: the violence of a storm.

2.

rough or injurious physical force, action, or treatment: to die by violence.

3.

an unjust or unwarranted exertion of force or power, as against rights or laws:to take over a government by violence.

4.

a violent  act or proceeding.

5.

rough or immoderate vehemence, as of feeling or language: the violence of his hatred.

Violence is an easy term to understand. But it also comes in many flavors. They are all harmful in one way or another. Let's consider a few. 

Direct Violence - This is the version we are all most familiar with. Violent crime or person on person violence. The amount of direct violence we witness every day via the TV is unreal. Consider this, by the time a kid reaches elementary school, they have seen 8,000 murders on TV and 100,000 acts of violence. No, I did not make this up, look here. Check out this as well. Violent acts make up a huge part of TV news as well both local and national. This helps build ratings and profits, yet only a fraction of violence makes the news. We rarely hear about the child facing verbal and physical abuse day in or day out or the wife or girlfriend caught up in an abusive relationship. Their suffering is no less tragic and needs addressing. Despite violent crime going down, fear of violence is alive and well.   

Here in the USA the fear of violence is a driving force. How can we call ourselves "The Home of The Brave" with a straight face?  Fear drives much of our obsession with guns and the military. People keep loaded guns in both their homes and cars, more often than not ending in tragedy. If you are a gun owner, you are statistically more likely to be harmed by your own gun than use it defending yourself. Simple truth. We would rather have the illusion of safety than real safety it seems.  More guns do not translate into less violence and a safer world. We Americans are proof of that. We have by far and away the most guns and the most murders in the entire world. I don't blame it all on the guns but easy access to firearms exacerbates other problems with deep roots in American history and culture. We are not only afraid of each other, we are are also afraid of everyone else. 

We outspend the rest of the entire world on our military. 9/11/01 gave the powers that be a justification for dramatic spending not only on the military but law enforcement as well. What sense does it make to fight terrorism with the terrorism of state sponsored war? Many died on 9/11 from some assholes flying planes into buildings. Many more have died in the wars that followed and are still on going. How does continuing The War of Terrorism  stop terrorism when war is terror by another name? State Violence anyone?

State Violence- Occurs when the state uses it’s powers to harm own citizens. There are the obvious examples, Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia and Pol Pot’s Cambodia. These are extreme examples of states turning on their own citizens. State violence can be measured on a spectrum with the three already mentioned on one side and Western Democracies on the other. Now, this is not to say Western Democracies are without their fair share of wrong doing. They too have plenty to be held accountable for but killing massive numbers of their own people is not one of them (except the US). The US practiced what we would today call ethnic cleansing and genocide on the native peoples of this continent. No one was held to account for this horrific wrong committed against an entire culture. I think one could argue this rises to the level of a Hitler or a Pol Pot but the passage of time along with the winners writing the narrative makes it somehow seem less so. If you disagree, I’d ask you to look here and here. The numbers are pretty bad. Murdering people in huge numbers is still a crime against humanity no matter when or where it takes place. States don’t just murder their own. They use other forms of violence as well.

Minority oppression is all too common among existing states. There may be countries that have no history of minority oppression right down to this day but I cannot think of one. While people may not be out right killed, in too many places (one is too many) minorities face beatings, police harassment and structural violence. There are numerous examples of this going on all over the globe as you read this. Vietnam and the Montinynards, Central American countries and indigenous peoples Israelis and Arabs, America and black Africans, the list could go on and on. The violence is similar in each case and while in many places progress is being made, there is still a very long way to go. State Violence can also be unleashed on people with different ideas.

The idea of a more equitable and just world put forward by Occupy movements the world over have met with violent reactions here in the US. When discrediting, mockery and ridicule fail to work the back up is force. Massive amounts of resources are arrayed against largely peaceful demonstrators. Police armed better than a lot of armies are deployed against loosely organized peaceful demonstrators. Demonstrations are broken up and key people are arrested (sometimes even before a demonstration occurs). The state uses media influence to put fourth an "official" narrative about what happens from the law enforcement / government's point of view. Few if any questions are raised about why the protests are happening in the first place.     

In the next post, we'll examine the following: 
Sexual & Domestic Violence

Structural Violence 

Slow Violence 

A book report...

"Blood Done Sign My Name... A True Story"

By Dr. Timothy B. Tyson

This book is truly a must read for anyone wanting to understand modern race relations in the south. Dr. Tyson’s book is an autobiographical account of an incident in his home town that took place while he was a boy. Although it takes place in the early 1970’s in Oxford, North Carolina many of the issues raised are still with us today through out the United States. The plot is pretty simple. A black man, Henry Marrow is murdered by a white man named Robert Teel and his two sons. The whites are found innocent by an all white jury. The second part of the story is what happens in the community afterward. The black community exploded in riots but did not attack white directly. Instead, they attacked economically, destroying property and warehouses full of inventory. The events all takes place after the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s. In the book we hear the story told through many characters, Dr. Tyson, his father Reverend Tyson, community activist Ben Chavis, Mr. Marrow’s friends and family and Mr. Teel also tells his side. The book vividly illustrates racial tensions in the south at the time. We like to think we have progressed and in some ways we have. This is an extremely important book because many of the issues it brings up are still with us today. Let’s consider a few examples. One, there is still a caste system here in the south based on race. The structural violence that lead to the physical violence in Oxford all those years ago is still with us. Last, it can be argued the use of violence by the black community did help bring about positive change.

Oxford, North Carolina in 1970 is no different from many other towns and cities across the United States at the time. Almost all the power lied with the wealthy whites, some to the poorer whites and very little left over for blacks and other minorities. Mr. Teel owned a small convenient store in the “black” neighborhood. This is where the murder took place. Mr. Teel and his sons claimed Mr. Marrow said something disrespectful to one of the son’s wives. They beat and shot Henry Marrow and claimed self defense. Their lawyers managed to convince the white jury that Mr. Marrow posed a threat to Mr. Teel and his family. It was okay to do business with blacks in their own neighborhood but there was no way at the time there would be a black owned business in a white neighborhood. Everything about the existing power structure favored the Teels. The police were white and the legal system was controlled by whites. Many wealthy whites quietly donated money to help the Teels hire extremely good defense attorneys. There was very little mixing of the races. Whites for their part if they thought of blacks at all considered them to be “good niggers” meaning they knew their place with in the community. Blacks who wanted to stand up for themselves were thought of as trouble makers and radicals or worse. It is very interesting to see how this caste system played out in the churches.

Dr. Tyson’s father, Reverend Tyson, believed in equality but he has to be careful how he addresses his own church. Not everyone is ready for a message of equality. He has to walk a tight rope between his principals and some of those he is called upon to lead. Reverend Tyson followed his own beliefs despite the fact of losing some members. He openly supported equality for blacks and even invited black ministers to speak at his church. Some members left for more segregationist churches but many stayed. Reverend Tyson did not surrender his own values to try and please everyone. Black churches helped organize and support peaceful protests in the tradition of Dr. Martin Luther King. Both groups tried to bridge differences by setting up meetings directly between blacks and whites. Black and white churches are still a fact in American life today.

This notion of being separate on Sunday morning is still with us. Barack Obama belonged to a black church in the Chicago area. Recordings of Jeremiah Wright, a former Pastor, showed him making some inflammatory remarks about race in America. It was a black conjuration he was speaking to. When he said we should be damned, he spoke for many people who have suffered under the second class status blacks have had to live with for generations. What is more interesting, is for all of the talk of progress and equality in America today there are still black and white churches. Instead of condemning Mr. Wright for his remarks we should take a look in the mirror as a nation and address the reasons behind his statements. Outrage comes from somewhere. It would seem sharing a common religion, Christianity, would bring different people together. It has been used as such a vehicle for change in some cases but until root causes of structural violence are addressed little can really change.

Structural Violence in Blood Done Sign My Name leaps off almost every page. Dr. Tyson’s father has power and influence in the white community but not near enough to overturn or reduce Structural Violence. Rather, he is a victim of as well. He faces threats for inviting a black preacher to come speak at his church and speaking at black churches. One of the few ways out of a life of poverty for blacks is military service. Many had been drafted and fought in Vietnam only to wonder why they had to fight for a country that treated them in such a second class manner. They made use of their over seas experience as we will soon see. The housing conditions, education and economic opportunities for blacks were far less than their white neighbors. This extended to the justice system as well. Henry Marrow’s killers were acquitted despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Mayor Currin was white along with all of the political and business elite. Anything left was for blacks; low paying mill jobs, domestic service work and laborers. Some of the black Vietnam Veterans thought the protests and breaking a few shop windows was not enough.

Violence is complicated. Many whites living in and around Oxford saw the black response to the murder of Henry Marrow as a unified response by the entire black community. It was anything but that. People like the Civil Rights activist Ben Chavis wanted non violent solutions. Some of the much younger generation expressed their outrage through rioting and setting fires with no set goal in mind. They saw no solution. Still others thought the only way to bring about any real change was via economic violence. This last category consisted of a group of black Vietnam Veterans who planned and carried out a series of attacks on warehouses and other businesses. Their view was simple. The only way to get any significant change was by attacking the dominant white power structure economically. They called it ringing the cash register. The whites negotiated wit Ben Chavis thinking he had some control or influence over those carrying out the violent acts. When in truth, he did not. According to Dr. Tyson the whites never even considered making changes until the rioting and buildings started going up in flames. Mayor Currin and other political elite's started to listen to blacks for the first time. The things they wanted were pretty straight forward. Obviously, equal protection under the law and the justice system were high on the list. More black employees in city government in positions of authority, not just patrol officers and laborers. At the time there was not one black police officer with higher rank than patrolman and not a single black fire fighter. Things slowly started to change. The city made an effort to be more inclusive. White owned businesses started to hire more black employees and the schools were integrated. It is hard to say all of this came about by acts of economic violence but the writer feels this was the biggest factor. Over time the violence lessoned and the community was able to move forward.

Reference

Blood Done Sign My Name By Timothy B. Tyson.

Three Rivers Press 2004