An Update with Context on Little-Known Historical US Oppression of International Minorities
Hi! So much has happened since my last couple of posts here. I’ve wanted to write so much and I simply haven’t been able to. I’ve been frustrated and concerned that those who follow or read me here or elsewhere might get the very wrong idea that I’m somehow unaware of current situations or am critical of things or apathetic or whatever, but that’s not the case. If anything, I’ve been TOO passionate, too inflamed, too angry, bitter, depressed and too sick of the never-ending bigoted, racist, fascist, violent nationalist goons who have run this damn country since BEFORE it actually became a country, and I’m sick of the mythologies we’ve all been taught about American (and world) history, and I’m sick of the lies and hypocrisy and I’m sick of how we’re not taught or told truths about the ugliness that has been white America’s historical racist ideology, economy, etc., and the inexcusable violence, genocide (literally and culturally) and oppression, not just of black people here over the past 400+ years, but of virtually anyone representing “The Other,” which would include most other minorities in addition to black people, as well as the economically and educationally disadvantaged, regardless of color but including Caucasians, women, non-(Christian)-theists, etc., and not only have we been fed bullshit about the treatment of all of this shit, but we’re not even TAUGHT at all about our colonial imperialist history dating back centuries!
We all know about the “usual” colonial imperialists, such as Britain, France, Spain, etc., but so many people in this country have long held us up as the so-called moral high ground for not engaging in such heinous crimes against other peoples (conveniently forgetting the complete genocides of indigenous cultures and the evils inflicted on virtually all people of African origin in this country, at a minimum). Do you know that’s a crock of shit? Do you know why so many people throughout the world have historically and still do hate America and what it stands for, let alone what it’s done to others in the world? And I’m not talking Middle Eastern “radical” Muslims. How many of you, for instance, are familiar with how Hawaii came to become a U.S. state? Really? That few? Shocked. That’s because they don’t teach it in schools. And there’s a reason — shame and guilt. You should look into it, and REALLY look into it because the truth is ugly.
So too, Cuba. The US “victory” over imperialist Spain, giving Cuba its “freedom” while asserting they were too “inexperienced” and “unintelligent” enough for self-governance and hence declaring the country to be a U.S. protectorate, like it or not, was especially ironic since the Cuban revolutionaries had been fighting and dying against Spain for a decade to gain their freedom and Spain had finally capitulated. Had finally given in and had drawn up papers granting Cuba its freedom. But somehow just a couple of months before that became formalized, tah dah, American warships appeared in certain harbors and began bombing the “Spanish” enemies on behalf of our Cuban friends and allies — uninvited and shocking to both Cubans and Spaniards — and we sent troops, uninvited and unnecessarily, most famous of whom was Teddy Roosevelt, to “liberate” the Cubans from those evil Spanish colonial imperialists and needing a battle to justify this, the infamous and celebrated (in U.S. history only) Battle of San Juan Hill was concocted and U.S. troops routed a tired and demoralized Spanish “enemy” about to vacate anyway, and thus “liberated” Cuba! Of course when the nationwide celebration that had been planned for the Cuban citizens to let loose and express their joy at winning their freedom was surprisingly announced right before it was to begin that all Cubans were Banned from the celebration, that gave devastated and disappointed Cubans a pretty good idea of what to expect from there out.
There’s so much more, too ironic and vile to write about here, but I’ll recommend a book that’s a good source in a moment. Another example. Speaking of Hawaii, ever wonder how Puerto Rico came to be an “unincorporated territory” of the United States in 1917? We “acquired” it from Spain after the Spanish-American war; Wikipedia refers to it as our “first colony.” And the people there were glad at first because they thought they, too, had become free. Nope, wrong. So ever since, there has been a Puerto Rican element who have fought perceived U.S. oppression there and in the U.S. Interestingly, while we read and hear about “radical” groups from the 1960s and 1970s such as the Weathermen and Black Panther Party, we never seem to hear about what was possibly the most radical, feared and “bloodthirsty” group of them all — The Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional, or FALN (Armed Forces of National Liberation) — a militant, clandestine organization (often termed “paramilitary”) who were so secretive, virtually nothing was known about them, nor were even any members known aside from their leader, Filiberto Ojeda Rios. From the mid-’70s to the early-’80s, they bombed over 130 targets in the US in their “armed struggle” against the “Yanki capitalist monopoly.” If you don’t know of FALN, look them up. You won’t find much compared to other such groups of the period. One might ask why. One might surmise that U.S. officials KNEW Americans were obviously aware of civil rights issues with American blacks and social issues with Vietnam student protesters and couldn’t really hide those issues, but they COULD choose to not publicize what was happening in Puerto Rico, since it was one of our colonies, just like we didn’t publicize the fact that the Filipinos weren’t necessarily thrilled to be given over by the Spanish to the U.S. after the end of the Spanish-American war either, thus giving us yet another colony. Nor are we taught in school about the Communist uprising in the Philippines during the 1950s, which legendary CIA spook Edward Landsdale virtually single handedly put down (some say quite ruthlessly), after which he was quietly sent over to South Vietnam where we had just finished financing “imperial colonialist” ally France’s brutal efforts to recolonize Indochina, only to see one “hidden” World War II ally — Ho Chi Minh and his Viet Minh soldiers , whom we gave money and weapons to in order to aid them in their fight against the Japanese who had invaded their country — use these weapons against the French that they shockingly defeated at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. And which we then saw used against U.S. troops as we started sending “advisors” to what was now called South Vietnam in the 1950s. (Indeed, most believe Edward Landsale was the inspiration for the protagonist in the Graham Greene novel, The Quiet American, later made into a movie.) Of course we were in Southeast Asia many years before it was ever publicly admitted, certainly in terms of those listed as non-combat “advisors,” but our leaders knew the American people wouldn’t be too thrilled about “Yankee imperialists” following France directly down the same path so it wasn’t formally admitted until after the concocted Gulf of Tonkin incident had occurred. (And for those who would call me a conspiracy theorist regarding the falsified Gulf of Tonkin incident, not only has it been officially discredited by far too many legitimate sources, but I actually have copies of the original NSA papers, notes and documents describing in detail and quoting what was being said on the ships that night as they listened in, as well as documents shared with them from other military listeners and sources, and analysis and documents relating to information given to the highest levels in DC. And the NSA’s own formal, formally top secret documents, refute the “official” story the LBJ administration put forth in its argument seeking wartime powers and the right to send troops to South Vietnam in light of this “unprovoked attack.”)
I know it seems I’ve gotten off track, but I actually haven’t. I wanted to mention some of these other examples that aren’t so well known to make the point that this has been the basis, the construct, for the entire history of our country. Once one realizes that, after you get over the shock, the disillusionment, cynicism and righteous indignation set in. These are some of the underlying factors that have brought the country to the place we find it today. (Before I forget, let me recommend at least one book that makes for an interesting read in addressing some of the subjects of which I just wrote: Stephen Kinzer’s Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq. It’s an excellent book and if the author had had sufficient time and motivation, he could have written a book by the same title starting much further back than he did.) And that’s the tragedy of it all, of this country, its history, the things we are told and not told, the myths and lies, and bullshit we’re fed, as well as the rest of the world.
I’m not foolish enough to assert I can identify with what my black friends — personal, digital and fellow citizens — have had to and continue to endure. I have been party to and witnessed enough on my own, including the cold blooded Murder By Cop of more than one black man on the streets in certain SoCal cities while I was literally yards away, not to mention many lesser things, and I have seen far too many black, Latino, Asian and other peoples, generally minorities, but even in terms of white classicism, certain groups of white people too who have all been repeatedly and ruthlessly oppressed historically and through the present. So while I can never presume to speak for others, I can only know what I know, what I’ve seen, what I’ve heard from and on behalf of my minority friends, colleagues, peers, etc., and frankly, that’s a lot. I’ve spent my entire life as an activist, and I have battled misogynistic, patriarchal theists, anti-Semites, racists, fascists, dogmatic religionists, anti-choice terrorists, anti-poor elitists and more, and I have had a lot of my work published in commercial, academic and professional magazines and journals produced by and for everyone from feminists to African Americans to the LGBTQ community to the mentally ill to atheists and agnostics to victims of sexual abuse to environmentalists, etc. I am not naive enough to feel that this will be sufficient to all. I know there will be certain people who will not want to hear what I say or write due to my color, gender, “privilege,” lack of personal experience due to the aforementioned, and I know there’s a lot of hostility out there towards white people these days, including some directed at white people who have historically or even just recently attempted to align themselves with and/or support African Americans in many ways, and to these people all I can say is that’s fine, I get it, I understand, that’s your right, your prerogative, no problem. For some people, there is simply nothing I can say or do, or have said and done throughout my life, that gives me the “right” to say shit right now, and while most don’t share that opinion, I’ve been exposed to that and I have no beef with that. I’ve always felt if I had been born and raised black in America, I would almost certainly be angry and bitter. I’m not saying that’s the best approach, but I’m a passionate person who believes in a “fairness” that has never existed, so my assumption has been given that situation, that’s likely how my feelings would be. There’s a reason why I was always drawn more to Malcom X than to Dr. King. There’s a reason I admire Stokely Carmichael, Huey Newton and Eldridge Cleaver. Hell, going further back, there’s a reason why I always felt closer to William Monroe Trotter than Booker T Washington!
It’s time I wrapped things up for several reasons. I started what I meant to be a short piece explaining my absence, yet it turns out I’ve written 2,200 words, so it’s funny that I was going to let you know that I’ve long had very serious health problems, have been progressively impacted by them for some time, and was told at the beginning of 2019 to not expect to live to see 2020. I disappointed some people in making it though! However, while still alive, I have little quality of life and frequently experience difficulties, mishaps, bad things, among them some recent falls, lacerations, broken bones, TBIs, and what appears to have been a nasty heart attack just a few days ago, so I’ve been horribly fatigued and am still in quite a bit of pain. There’s much more, but those are some examples explaining why I’ve not spent much time online lately and why I haven’t written anything. But assuming I remain alive for awhile and hoping to get some of my health back, I plan to resume writing more as circumstances permit, and I have many topics in mind. Among some topics I’ve been considering are things involving the hypocritical and stupid Antifa screwup caused by Trump’s idiocy and his fascist desire to persecute perceived political enemies. Thanks for reading and feel free to comment.
Scott C. Holstad
June 7, 2020
