Crimes that earned their perpetrators capital sentences at Nuremberg are celebrated as the sacred patrimony of the United States.
“Those who speak out against the war-machine are often seen as outcasts and anti-American troublemakers who need to be silenced.”
Year-after-year, the United States' government reigns supreme within the destructive realm of imperialism and the unmitigated carnage that it causes. Innocent women, children, men and the elderly, alike, have lost their lives due to the United States' unbridled thirst for geopolitical supremacy, no matter the cost. The USA has long valued money over the interests of human life. This wretched trend has a legacy that spans over generations. It does not matter whether the president and/or congress is controlled by Democrats or Republicans, the results are the same. Quite simply, it is a structural component within the blood-stained fabric of American foreign policy.
A great many Americans have been systematically programmed to ignore or to be completely oblivious, to crimes against humanity that have been committed by "their" government. This programming begins at an early age when masses of naive school-children are force-fed heaping doses of psychologically damaging "Pro-America" propaganda. This propaganda consists, but is not limited to, everything from the zombie-like recitation of the "Pledge of Allegiance," singing of the "Star-Spangled Banner," and revisionist history that extols enslavers like George Washington and mass murderers like Andrew Jackson. Unfortunately, those are only two of dozens of US presidents who committed crimes against humanity. There is virtually nothing within the institutionalized US public school curriculum that challenges the narratives, or actions of United States presidents, or the US government itself. Even the courageous teachers who attempt to broaden the humanity spectrum within their classrooms face an uphill battle. Instead of calling out the actions of imperialism, colonization, theft of native land, and chattel slavery, those who committed those crimes are celebrated.
“It does not matter whether the president and/or congress is controlled by Democrats or Republicans, the results are the same.”
The aforementioned facts should make it easier to partially understand how, and why, things are the way they are in 2020. There is no national outcry to end the United States' imperialist wars or to curtail the hundreds and hundreds of US military bases throughout the globe. Many Americans have either been programmed to accept the United States' deadly imperialist project or they are simply too scared to speak out against the USA's crimes against humanity. Those who speak out against the war-machine are often seen as outcasts and anti-American troublemakers who need to be silenced.
This US system has created an entire class of non-critical thinkers who are unable to recognize champions for peace when they see or hear them. However, those of us who recognize what imperialism is, have a duty to speak out against what we know is evil. Imperialism is pure evil. It destroys innocent lives without regard for age, gender or class. Imperialism is indiscriminate bombs and missiles raining down upon villages and cities. Imperialism is also brutal sanctions that often claim the lives of millions of innocent people, especially children and the elderly.
The USA is the greatest and most diabolical imperialist "superpower" on the globe today. There is no stopping this force of evil until a critical mass stands up, speaks out and demands an end to imperialism. Peace depends on our collective voices and organization. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr so bluntly stated, "Silence is betrayal!" We must speak out! Humanity and Peace depend on it.
Solomon Comissiong (www.solomoncomissiong.com) is an educator, community activist, author, and Founder of the Your World News Media Collective (www.yourworldnews.org). Solomon is the author of Unapologetically Outspoken: Hip Hop, Social Justice & Liberation. Solomon is also the writer and producer of the documentary, Hip Hop, White Supremacy & Capitalism: Why Corporations Infiltrated RAP Music. He can be reached at solo@yourworldnews.org
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