History

Nixakliel - 02/16/2011 - 23:30

People ask the questions why has the US 'become' an empire? Why do the business elites [now in the form of Corps] have undue influence in Gov't policy - domestic & foreign?  And why can’t we have a civil yet meaningful dialogue on race – especially w the election of the US’ first black president [It’s note-worthy that Obama avoids more than superficial politcally correct allusions about racial issues unless absolutely necessary... IE: the Rev Wright Hype.]? And what about the ‘illegal’ immigration problem?
What many whites [& even some Blacks] don’t want to really deal w is that the US was established by committing 3 Great Sins: Slavery, the isolation & near decimation of the Native Americans while seizing their lands, & the seizing of ½ of Mexico [the entire south-west quadrant of the US] during & in the aftermath of the Mexican American War. All of these issues are rooted in these 3 Great Sins. All 3 had racist implications, all 3 had big business implications [slavery was rooted in trade – called the Great Slave Trade], all 3 had imperialist expansionist implications, & the imperialist seizure of the S-West from Mexico ties into the current immigration problem. Until most white folks are ready to deal with these historical facts honestly & say what they are prepared to do to atone for these sins; then those [whites] that pose these questions are generally engaging in [disingenuous] academic rhetoric – much ‘Sound & Fury Signifying Nothing’.  
The so-called founding fathers where primarily elite white business-men - many / most of whom were Slave-Owners themselves- [IE: the13 US Pres listed here- including the Union hero of the Civil War ex-commanding Gen US Grant] so of course they weren't going to abolish slavery – they were profiting from it. The US & French Revolutions are popularized as the symbols of the modern movement toward ‘democratic ideals’ that all men should be free from tyranny & exploitation, etc, etc, blah, blah. But when Haiti successfully revolted against its French white slave masters- & was the first modern state to abolish slavery, France & the US have been collaborating to punish Haiti [the Audacity of those Black Slaves in succeeding in revolting against their White Slave Masters]– To This Very Day!!!
US history says Thanksgiving commemorates the Pilgrims landing on Plymouth Rock & founding James-Town. During the first winter nearly half died & the other half would have died - had it not been for the intervention of Native Americans who showed the survivors how to survive the harsh winter. So the descendants of the Pilgrims expressed their gratitude to the Original Americans by relentlessly stealing their lands, isolating & decimating them [IE: Genocide]. And this exploitation continues, it’s just not discussed.
These enormously horrific crimes against humanity set the stage for the seizing of Texas & the south-west territories during & in the wake of the Mexican-American War. This along w the so-called ‘Monroe Doctrine’ [both of which roughly coincided] firmly set the course of the US as an imperialist nation. First by habitually unduly intervening in Latin America & the Caribbean [called the US’s ‘back-yard’]. This included the Spanish American War [seizing Cuba & Puerto Rico] – to control sources of sugar, rum, fruit, raw material, etc. From there on to the Philippines & Hawaii - again to control sources of sugar, fruit, rubber, etc. From that point on the US was entrenched as a foreign imperialist power whose government & military was in close collaboration w the business elites [IE: begining of the 'Military Industrial Complex'].
Take the reparations issue. Most whites, even if they’re so-called ‘fair minded liberals’- when reparations is brought up – turn flush red & reject it out right. They don’t even want to have an honest ‘theoretical / academic’ discussion about it. You can often hear them say such things as- my fore-bearers came to the US after the Civil War [all of a sudden they remember their immigrant back-ground], or that there is also Black racism [blaming the victim] & racism against whites too [the reverse discrimination hype is rooted in this argument]. Or that the Civil War fixed that issue [then what was the Civil Rights / Black Freedom struggle against ‘Jim Crow’ institutionalized racist laws about]. Thus when {white}people start using terms like ‘post racial’, y’all need to ‘get over it’, why y’all keep bringing up the past [they wouldn’t dare say this to Jews / Israelis about the NAZI Holocaust] …& then there was Bush's & Obama's rejection of the Intenational Conference on Racism, & Obama saying: ‘look forward not back’ – these are indicators that the US neither wants to Atone, nor sees any reason why they should Atone for any of these sins.