diff --git a/us_atrocities.md b/us_atrocities.md index 9f85a55..a69c5dc 100644 --- a/us_atrocities.md +++ b/us_atrocities.md @@ -109,6 +109,7 @@ - In 1954, the CIA overthrows the democratically elected Guatemalen [Jacobo Árbenz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobo_%C3%81rbenz) in a [military coup](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_Guatemalan_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat) in [operation PBSucess](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_PBSuccess). Arbenz threatened to nationalize the Rockefeller-owned United Fruit Company, in which CIA Director Allen Dulles also owns stock. Arbenz is replaced with a series of US-backed right-wing dictators whose bloodthirsty policies will kill over 100,000 Guatemalans in the next 40 years, until 1996. The coup has been described as the definitive deathblow to democracy in Guatemala.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_Guatemalan_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat) - In 1899, after a [popular revolution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Revolution) in the Philippines to oust the Spanish imperialists, the US invaded and began the [Phillipine-American war](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine–American_War). The US military committed countless atrocities, leaving 200,000 Filipinos dead. - In 1896, the US fought the [Spanish-American War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish%E2%80%93American_War) largely over economic interests in the Caribbean, primarily Cuba. Historian Eric Foner writes: "Even before the Spanish flag was down in Cuba, U.S. business interests set out to make their influence felt. Merchants, real estate agents, stock speculators, reckless adventurers, and promoters of all kinds of get-rich schemes flocked to Cuba by the thousands. Seven syndicates battled each other for control of the franchises for the Havana Street Railway, which were finally won by Percival Farquhar, representing the Wall Street interests of New York. Thus, simultaneously with the military occupation began . . . commercial occupation." [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish%E2%80%93American_War) +- In 1846, the US sent a small force into Mexico with the aim of bringing about a war, and started the [Mexican-American War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican%E2%80%93American_War). The US prevailed, expanding its territory far into Mexico, and killed ~25,000 mexicans in the process, as part of an ideological goal of white supremacy in north america called [manifest destiny](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifest_destiny). The shift in the Mexico-U.S. border left many Mexican citizens separated from their national government. For the indigenous peoples who had never accepted Mexican rule, the change in border meant conflicts with a new outside power.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican%E2%80%93American_War) ### Africa @@ -149,7 +150,8 @@ ### Asia - Between 1996-2006, The US has given money and weapons to royalist forces against the nepalese communists in the [Nepalese civil war](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepalese_Civil_War). ~18,000 people have died in the conflict. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepalese_Civil_War) -- In [1975 Australian Constitutional Crisis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975_Australian_constitutional_crisis), the CIA helps topple the democratically elected, left-leaning government of Prime Minister [Gough Whitlam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gough_Whitlam). The CIA does this by giving an ultimatum to its Governor-General, [John Kerr](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kerr_(governor-general)), a longtime CIA collaborator, to dissolve the Whitlam government. +- In 1996, after receiving incredibly low approval ratings, the US helped elect [Boris Yeltsin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Yeltsin), an incompetent pro-capitalist independent, by giving him a \$10 Billion dollar loan to finance a winning election. Rather than creating new enterprises, Yeltsin's [democratization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratization) led to international monopolies hijacking the former Soviet markets, arbitraging the huge difference between old domestic prices for Russian commodities and the prices prevailing on the world market. Much of the Yeltsin era was marked by widespread corruption, and as a result of persistent low oil and commodity prices during the 1990s, Russia suffered inflation, [economic collapse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_collapse) and enormous political and social problems that affected Russia and the other former states of the USSR. Under Yeltsin, Between 1990 and 1994, life expectancy for Russian men and women fell from 64 and 74 years respectively to 58 and 71 years. The surge in mortality was “beyond the peacetime experience of industrialised countries”. While it was boom time for the new oligarchs, poverty and unemployment surged; prices were hiked dramatically; communities were devastated by deindustrialisation; and social protections were stripped away.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Yeltsin),[2](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/05/americans-spot-election-meddling-doing-years-vladimir-putin-donald-trump) +- In [1975 Australian Constitutional Crisis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975_Australian_constitutional_crisis), the CIA helped topple the democratically elected, left-leaning government of Prime Minister [Gough Whitlam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gough_Whitlam), by telling Governor-General, [John Kerr](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kerr_(governor-general)), a longtime CIA collaborator, to dissolve the Whitlam government. - Between 1963 and 1973, The US dropped ~388,000 tons of [napalm bombs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napalm#Military_use) in vietnam, compared to 32,357 tons used over three years in the Korean War, and 16,500 tons dropped on Japan in 1945. US also sprayed over 5 million acres with herbicide, in [Operation Ranch Hand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ranch_Hand), in a 10 year campaign to deprive the vietnamese of food and vegetation cover. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napalm#Military_use),[2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ranch_Hand) - In 1971 in Pakistan, an authoritarian state supported by the U.S., brutally invaded East Pakistan in the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971. The war ended after India, whose economy was staggering after admitting about 10 million refugees, invaded East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and defeated the West Pakistani forces. The US gave W. pakistan 411 million provided to establish its armed forces which spent 80% of its budget on its military. 15 million in arms flowed into W. Pakistan during the war. Between 300,000 to 3 million civilians were killed, with 8-10 million refugees fleeing to India. 1 @@ -225,6 +227,23 @@ - In 1921, a white mob started the [Tulsa race riot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_race_riot), attacking black residents in [Tulsa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa), [Oklahoma](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma), in what is considered one of the worst incidents of racial violence in US History. Thousands of whites rampaged through the black community for two days, killing men and women, burning and looting stores and homes, and using private planes to drop burning balls of turpentine on rooftops. ~300 blacks were killed, and ~10,000 blacks were left homeless. More than 800 people were admitted to hospitals and more than 6,000 black residents were arrested and detained. In 2001 it was revealed that the police and national guard assisted the whites. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_race_riot) - In the years between 1889 and 1903, on the average, every week, two Negroes were lynched by mobs -- hanged, burned, mutilated. - In 1887, white paramilitaries attacked and killed between 35-300 black [Knights of Labor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_Labor) sugar workers on strike for better conditions, in the [Thibodaux Massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thibodaux_massacre). Victims reportedly included elders, women and children. All those killed were African American.[[3\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thibodaux_massacre#cite_note-Rebecca_Jarvis_Scott_page_85-3)[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thibodaux_massacre) +- In the 1860s-70s, the Ku Klux Klan, aided by police, organized raids,lynchings, beatings, burnings, throughout the south. For Kentucky alone, between 1867 and 1871, the National Archives lists 116 acts of violence. A sample: + - Sam Davis hung by a mob in Harrodsburg, May 28, 1868. + - Wm. Pierce hung by a mob in Christian July 12, 1868. + - Geo. Roger hung by a mob in Bradsfordville Martin County July 11, 1868. ... + - Silas Woodford age sixty badly beaten by disguised mob. . .. + - Negro killed by Ku Klux Klan in Hay county January 14, 1871. +- After the Civil war, black voting in the period after 1869 resulted in 2 black senators and 20 black congressmen. This list would dwindle rapidly after 1876, due to the reactionary policies of [Johnson-era reconstruction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstruction_Era#Johnson.27s_presidential_Reconstruction), and the empowering of the KKK in the south. By 1901, there were no blacks in congress, and the number still hasn't returned to its 1869 levels. +- The [Memphis Riots of 1866](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis_riots_of_1866) occurred after a shooting altercation between white policemen and black soldiers recently mustered out of the [Union Army](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Army). Mobs of white civilians and policemen rampaged through black neighborhoods and the houses of [freedmen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedmen), attacking and killing black men, women and children. 46 blacks and 2 whites were killed, 75 blacks injured, over 100 black persons robbed, 5 black women raped, and 91 homes, 4 churches and 8 schools burned in the black community.[[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis_riots_of_1866#cite_note-Congress-2)Modern estimates place property losses at over $100,000, suffered mostly by blacks. Police and firefighters made up one third of the mob (24% and 10%, respectively, of the total group); they were joined by small business owners (28%), clerks (10%), artisans (10%), and city officials (4.5%). Many blacks fled the city permanently; by 1870, their population had fallen by one quarter compared to 1865.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis_riots_of_1866) +- In 1865-66, the [Black Codes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Codes_(United_States)) were laws passed by [Southern states](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_United_States) after the [Civil War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War). These laws had the intent and the effect of restricting [African Americans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American)' freedom, and of compelling them to work in a labor economy based on low wages or [debt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt_bondage). Black Codes were part of a larger pattern of Southern whites trying to suppress the new freedom of emancipated African American slaves, the [freedmen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedmen). +- In 1865, the [13th Amendment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution), abolished [slavery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_United_States) and [involuntary servitude](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Involuntary_servitude), except [as punishment for a crime](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penal_labor_in_the_United_States). This would become an important loophole, as white supremacists, land-owners, and business-owners in the south would enact legislation and find ways to imprison blacks for petty crimes, and thus be able to use free prison labor for their businesses. This continues up to the present day, in such policies as the disparity of sentencing between prescription "white" drugs, and drugs typically used in poorer black communities. +- In 1859, white [abolitionist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abolitionism_in_the_United_States) [John Brown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown_%28abolitionist%29) attempted to begin an armed [slave revolt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_revolt), rallying nearby black and white abolitionists, and raided an [arsenal at Harpers Ferry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown%27s_raid_on_Harpers_Ferry), Virginia. He intended to use the rifles and pikes he captured at the arsenal, in addition to those he brought along, to arm rebellious slaves with the aim of striking terror in the slaveholders in Virginia. He planned to send agents to nearby plantations, rallying the slaves. They would free more slaves, obtain food, horses and hostages, and destroy slaveholders' morale. Brown planned to follow the [Appalachian Mountains](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_Mountains) south into [Tennessee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee) and even [Alabama](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama), the heart of the [South](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_United_States), making forays into the plains on either side.[[9\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown%27s_raid_on_Harpers_Ferry#cite_note-9) Due primarily to intelligence leaks, the raid failed; 10 were killed and 6, including Brown, were captured(lead by future confederate general Robert E. Lee), then executed by hanging. Before his execution, John Brown addressed the court: ''I John Brown am now quite *certain* that the crimes of this *guilty, land: will* never be purged *away;* but with Blood. I had *as I now think: vainly* flattered myself that without *very much* bloodshed; it might be done. [...] Had I so interfered in behalf of the rich, the powerful, the intelligent, the so-called great, or in behalf of any of their friends, either father, mother, brother, sister, wife, or children, or any of that class, and suffered and sacrificed what I have in this interference, it would have been all right; and every man in this court would have deemed it an act worthy of reward rather than punishment." [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown%27s_raid_on_Harpers_Ferry) +- [The Fugitive Slave act of 1850](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugitive_Slave_Act_of_1850) was a law that required all escaped slaves, upon capture, to be returned to their masters and that officials and citizens of free states had to cooperate in this law.[Abolitionists](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abolitionism_in_the_United_States) nicknamed it the "Bloodhound Law" for the [dogs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodhound) that were used to track down runaway slaves.[[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugitive_Slave_Act_of_1850#cite_note-Nevins-1) [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugitive_Slave_Act_of_1850) +- In 1831, [Nat Turner lead a Slave Rebellion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_Turner%27s_slave_rebellion) in Southampton County, Virginia. Rebel slaves killed from 55 to 65 white slave-owners, the highest number of any slave uprising in the [Southern United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_United_States). There was widespread fear in the aftermath of the rebellion, and white militias organized in retaliation against the slaves. The state executed 56 slaves accused of being part of the rebellion. In the frenzy, many non-participant slaves were punished. At least 100 [African Americans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Americans), and possibly up to 200, were murdered by militias and mobs in the area. Blacks suspected of participating in the rebellion were beheaded by the militia. "Their severed heads were mounted on poles at crossroads as a grisly form of intimidation." Across the South, state legislatures passed new laws prohibiting education of slaves and free black people,[[3\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_Turner%27s_slave_rebellion#cite_note-3) restricting rights of assembly and other civil rights for free black people, and requiring white ministers to be present at all worship services.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_Turner%27s_slave_rebellion#Retaliation) +- In 1822, [Denmark Vesey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denmark_Vesey) a former slave who had purchased his freedom, began organizing his parish for a slave rebellion in Charleston, South Carolina. Vesey and his followers were said to be planning to kill slaveholders in Charleston, liberate the slaves, and sail to the black republic of [Haiti](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiti) for refuge, but were arrested beforehand. Vesey and five slaves were among the first group of men rapidly judged guilty by the secret proceedings of a city-appointed Court and condemned to death; they were executed by hanging on July 2, 1822. In later proceedings, some 30 additional followers were executed. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denmark_Vesey#Conspiracy) +- The [1811 German Coast Uprising](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1811_German_Coast_Uprising) was a [revolt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_rebellion) of [black slaves](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_United_States) in parts of the [Territory of Orleans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory_of_Orleans). Between 64 and 125 enslaved men marched from [sugar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_cane) [plantations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantations_in_the_American_South) near present-day [LaPlace](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaPlace,_Louisiana) on the [German Coast](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Coast) toward the city of [New Orleans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Orleans). During their two-day, twenty-mile march, the men burned five plantation houses (three completely), several sugarhouses, and crops. White men led by officials of the territory formed militia companies to hunt down and kill the insurgents. Over the next two weeks, white planters and officials interrogated, tried and executed an additional 44 insurgents who had been captured. Executions were by hanging or decapitation. Whites displayed the bodies as a warning to intimidate slaves. The heads of some were put on [pikes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pike_%28weapon%29) and displayed at plantations. The alleged leader, Charles Deslondes, had his hands chopped off, was then shot in one thigh & then the other, until they were both broken – then shot in the Body and before he had expired was put into a bundle of straw and roasted. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1811_German_Coast_Uprising) +- In the summer of 1800, [Gabriel Prosser](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Prosser) planned a large slave rebellion in Richmond, Virginia. Information regarding the revolt was leaked prior to its execution, and he and twenty-five followers were taken captive and [hanged](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanging) in punishment. In reaction, Virginia and other state legislatures passed restrictions on [free blacks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_people_of_color), as well as prohibiting the education, assembly, and hiring out of slaves, to restrict their chances to learn and to plan similar rebellions. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Prosser) +- In 1787, the [Three-Fifths Compromise](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-Fifths_Compromise), was a compromise between southern and northern states for how slaves should be counted for representation and taxation purposes, and determining how many seats a state would have in the house of representatives. Black slaves were counted as 3/5ths of a white person. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-Fifths_Compromise) - In the 18th and 19th centuries, US plantation owners benefitted from [African Slavery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_United_States), which eventually became the dominant mode of production in the south. Words cannot do justice to the inhumanity of slavery as practiced by the US, but specific examples above will attempt to highlight its brutality. The total slave population in the South eventually reached 4 million before liberation. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_United_States) ### LGBTQ People @@ -236,15 +255,22 @@ - In the period following WWII, the US capitalist-controlled media, advertising, and consumer products industries propagandized and glorified the ideal of the housewife-consumer, in order to sell products, make labor space for returning soldiers, take advantage of women's unpaid labor in the home, and to help build a new workforce and potential army to combat the soviet union. This sparked an era of regression with respect to the feminist victories of the previous 50 years, and caused psychological damage and demoralization to an uncountable number of women. Women who remained in the labor force were primarily only allowed in subordinate positions such as secretaries, cleaning women, elementary school teachers, saleswomen, waitresses, and nurses. This is chronicled in the [Feminine Mystique](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Feminine_Mystique). - From the 1880s onward, many US states(27 + puerto rico in 1956) operated a system of [forced sterilization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_sterilization#United_States) of women, rooted in white supremacy. The principle targets were the mentally ill, native americans, and blacks. For example, in [Sunflower County Mississippi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunflower_County,_Mississippi), 60% of black women living there were sterilized without their permission. An estimated 3,406 Indian women were sterilized.[[63\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics_in_the_United_States#cite_note-Lawrence-63) California eugenicists in 1933 began sending their literature overseas to german scientists and medical workers, sparking the beginnings of Nazi Eugenics. In the end, over 65,000 individuals were sterilized in 33 states, in all likelihood without the perspectives of ethnic minorities. 148 female prisoners in two California institutions were sterilized between 2006 and 2010 in a supposedly voluntary program, but it was determined that the prisoners did not give consent to the procedures. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_sterilization#United_States),[2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_sterilization#cite_note-71) +- In the 1830s, The [Lowell Mill Girls](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowell_Mill_Girls) were female workers who came to work in industrial factories in [Lowell, Massachusetts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowell,_Massachusetts), during the [Industrial Revolution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution), and who despite living in cramped boarding houses and working from 5am-7pm every day, developed a culture of defiance against the factory owners, and created reform associations, and began strikes in 1834 and 1836. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowell_Mill_Girls) ### Latinos - In early 2017, ICE began a [campaign of arrests and deportation](https://theintercept.com/2017/02/14/ice-arrested-nearly-700-people-last-week-advocates-are-bracing-for-more-to-come/) of undocumented immigrants. 700 People have been arrested so far. [1](https://theintercept.com/2017/02/14/ice-arrested-nearly-700-people-last-week-advocates-are-bracing-for-more-to-come/) + - In the present day, [ICE(U.S._Immigration_and_Customs_Enforcement)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Immigration_and_Customs_Enforcement#Case_samples), the police tasked with immigration enforcement, operates over 200 prison camps, housing over 31,000 undocumented people deemed "aliens", 20,000 of which have no criminal convictions, in the US [system of immigration detention](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_detention_in_the_United_States#Criticisms). [The camps](http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/23/opinions/reyes-immigration-detention/) include forced labor(often with [contracts from private companies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Immigration_and_Customs_Enforcement#Corporate_contracts)), poor conditions, lack of rights(since the undocumented aren't considered citizens), and forced deportations, often splitting up families. Detainees are often held for a year without trial, with antiquated court procedures pushing back court dates for months, encouraging many to accept immediate deportation in the hopes of being able to return faster than the court can reach a decision, but forfeiting legal status, in a cruel system of coercion. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_detention_in_the_United_States#Criticisms), [2](http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/23/opinions/reyes-immigration-detention/) + - In 1996, in response to increased immigration from countries such as El Salvador and Guatemala ravaged by US imperialism and authoritarian dictatorships, the US passed the [Anti-Terrorism and effective Death Penalty Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiterrorism_and_Effective_Death_Penalty_Act_of_1996), allowing deportation of any immigrant ever convicted of a crime, no matter how long ago or how serious. Lawful permanent residents who had married Americans and now had children were not exempt. The *New York Times* reported in July that "hundreds of long-term legal residents have been arrested since the law passed." [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiterrorism_and_Effective_Death_Penalty_Act_of_1996) + - By 1984, during the Reagan-era of social services and welfare cutbacks, 42% of all Latino children and one-fourth of the families lived below the poverty line. + - In 1983, a mostly latino workforce lead the 3-year long [Arizona Copper Mine Strike of 1983](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_copper_mine_strike_of_1983), in which the police, national guard, and Arizona governor assisted in one of the largest strikebreaking incidents of the 1980s, ending with the [Phelps Dodge Corporation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phelps_Dodge_Corporation) replacing most of the workers and decertifying the unions. Miners were subject to [undercover surveillance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveillance) by the Arizona Criminal Intelligence Systems Agency, to identify strikers engaged in violence, with the governor sending 325 National Guard soldiers to Morenci, and increasing the number of state policemen there to 425. Meanwhile, the local government passed [injunctions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Injunction) limiting both picketing and demonstrations at the mine. The Arizona copper mine strike would later become a symbol of defeat for American unions. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_copper_mine_strike_of_1983) + ​ + ### Asians - From 1942-46, FDR [imprisoned ~120,000 Japanese Americans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Japanese_Americans) in concentration camps after the attack on pearl harbor. The conditions of the camps were notoriously horrible, and most were forced to make "loyalty oaths", or risk deportation and separation from their families. It was later admitted that government actions were based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership". Most lost their homes and jobs, as whites took over vacated homes. @@ -260,6 +286,7 @@ - In the modern day, [20,000 to 40,000 people die every year](http://obamacarefacts.com/facts-on-deaths-due-to-lack-of-health-insurance-in-us/) because of lack of universal health care or health insurance. On average, that's 300,000 over the last decade. [1](http://obamacarefacts.com/facts-on-deaths-due-to-lack-of-health-insurance-in-us/) - Since January, 2013, over 21 US cities have enacted legislation to restrict giving food to the homeless, such as requiring expensive permits to discourage food donations in public spaces, or direct police intervention. In Tampa FL, on January 9th, 2017, police arrested 7 volunteers of Food Not Bombs and 1 homeless person to prevent them from distributing food. [1](http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/In-Tampa-If-You-Share-Food-with-Homeless-Cops-Will-Raid-You-20170110-0003.html) - In 1996, Congress signed into law the deceptively titled [Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Responsibility_and_Work_Opportunity_Act), which capitalized on a demonization of the poor as being lazy(in reality there was a lack of jobs, and low-wage work proved unable to sustain most families), in order to dismantle welfare benefits. Its aim was to force poor families receiving federal cash benefits (many of them single mothers with children) to go to work, by cutting off their benefits after two years, limiting lifetime benefits to five years, and allowing people without children to get food stamps for only three months in any three-year period. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Responsibility_and_Work_Opportunity_Act) +- In 1988, Police charged a tent city/homeless center in [Tompkins square](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tompkins_Square_Park_riot_(1988)), arresting and clubbing protesters, injuring 35 people and arresting 9 more. "It's time to bring a little law and order back to the park and restore it to the legitimate members of the community," said Captain McNamara. "We don't want to get into a situation where we under-police something like this and it turns into a fiasco." Protesters held up signs saying "Gentrification is Class War". [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tompkins_Square_Park_riot_(1988)) - In 1988, a founder of [Food Not Bombs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_Not_Bombs), [Keith McHenry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_McHenry), was one of nine volunteers arrested for sharing food and literature at Golden Gate Park on August 15, 1988.[[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_McHenry#cite_note-1) In the following years, Keith was arrested over 100 times for serving free food in city parks and spent over 500 nights in jail. He faced 25 years to life in prison under the California Three Strikes Law but in 1995, Amnesty International and the United Nations Human Rights Commission brought about his release.[[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_McHenry#cite_note-2) [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_McHenry) - In 1983, a mostly latino workforce lead the 3-year long [Arizona Copper Mine Strike of 1983](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_copper_mine_strike_of_1983), in which the police, national guard, and Arizona governor assisted in one of the largest strikebreaking incidents of the 1980s, ending with the [Phelps Dodge Corporation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phelps_Dodge_Corporation) replacing most of the workers and decertifying the unions. Miners were subject to [undercover surveillance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveillance) by the Arizona Criminal Intelligence Systems Agency, to identify strikers engaged in violence, with the governor sending 325 National Guard soldiers to Morenci, and increasing the number of state policemen there to 425. Meanwhile, the local government passed [injunctions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Injunction) limiting both picketing and demonstrations at the mine. The Arizona copper mine strike would later become a symbol of defeat for American unions. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_copper_mine_strike_of_1983) - In 1981, the union [PATCO(Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Air_Traffic_Controllers_Organization_(1968)), went on strike for better working conditions, pay, and a shorter work week. The union was [decertified](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decertification), declared illegal, and the strike broken by the [Reagan Administration](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_of_Ronald_Reagan). It is considered one of the last death throes of the US labor movement. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Air_Traffic_Controllers_Organization_(1968)) @@ -281,6 +308,9 @@ - In 1894, the [Pullman Strike](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman_Strike) was one of the bloodiest battles between police and workers in US history. The conflict began in [Pullman, Chicago](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman,_Chicago), when nearly 4,000 factory employees of the Pullman Company began a [wildcat strike](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildcat_strike) in response to recent reductions in wages, despite not reducing the rents or cost of goods in the company town. Debs and the [ARU](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Railway_Union) called a massive [boycott](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boycott) against all trains that carried a Pullman car. It affected most rail lines west of [Detroit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit) and at its peak involved some 250,000 workers in 27 states.Thirty people were killed by the police. The federal government obtained an injunction against the union, Debs, and other boycott leaders, ordering them to stop interfering with trains that carried mail cars. After the strikers refused, President [Grover Cleveland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grover_Cleveland) ordered in the Army to stop the strikers from obstructing the trains. Violence broke out in many cities, and the strike collapsed. Defended by a team including [Clarence Darrow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Darrow), Debs was convicted of violating a court order and sentenced to prison; the ARU then dissolved.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman_Strike) - In 1892, the [Homestead Strike](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homestead_Strike) was an industrial lockout and strike between Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania steel workers, and the Carnegie steel company, who hired armed [Pinkertons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkerton_National_Detective_Agency) to act as strike-breakers. It culminated in a battle between strikers and private security agents on July 6, 1892.[[3\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homestead_Strike#cite_note-3) The battle was one of the most serious disputes in [U.S. labor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_history_of_the_United_States), third behind the [Ludlow Massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludlow_Massacre) and the [Battle of Blair Mountain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain). After the thousands of rioters forced the encircled pinkertons to surrender, the US sent in national guard troops to suppress the strike, killing ~9 and arresting hundreds. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homestead_Strike) - In 1886, Chicago police killed several workers, and arrested many more striking in support of an 8-hour work day. The next day, they then attempted to break up the strike, upon which an unknown person threw a dynamite bomb at police, killing several, in the [Haymarket Affair](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_affair). Four anarchists were tried and hanged without evidence, and their executions aroused a funeral march of 25,000 in Chicago. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_affair) +- The [Great Railroad strike of 1877](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Railroad_Strike_of_1877#Reading) was a nationwide strike in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Illinois, and Missouri, after the [Baltimore & Ohio Railroad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore_%26_Ohio_Railroad) (B&O) cut wages for the third time in a year. The strike finally ended some 45 days later after it was put down by local and state militias, and federal troops, who murdered around ~100 workers or family members, and arrested ~1000 people. A newspaper recounting the situation in Chicago reports: "The sound of clubs falling on skulls was sickening for the first minute, until one grew accustomed to it. A rioter dropped at every whack, it seemed, for the ground was covered with them." The railroads made some concessions, withdrew some wage cuts, but also strengthened their "Coal and Iron Police." [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Railroad_Strike_of_1877#Reading) +- In 1874, Police charged and broke up a labor demonstration of unemployed workers in [Tompkins Square](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tompkins_Square_riot_(1874)), New York. One newspaper reported: Police clubs rose and fell. Women and children ran screaming in all directions. Many of them were trampled underfoot in the stampede for the gates. In the street bystanders were ridden down and mercilessly clubbed by mounted officers. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tompkins_Square_riot_(1874)) +- In 1841, [Dorrs's Rebellion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorr_Rebellion) was an armed insurrection against Rhode Island elites in order to give universal suffrage to factory workers and immigrants, previously only granted to those who owned land and had at least \$134. Dorr had originally supported granting voting rights to blacks, but he changed his position in 1840 because of pressure from white immigrants, who wanted to gain the vote first. The "Dorrites" led an unsuccessful attack against the arsenal in [Providence, Rhode Island](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Providence,_Rhode_Island) on May 19, 1842. Dorr eventually disbanded his forces, realizing that he would be defeated in battle by the approaching militia, and fled the state. Governor King issued a warrant for Dorr's arrest with a reward of $5,000.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorr_Rebellion) - Throughout the late 1800s, robber barons and wealthy industrialists like [J.P. Morgan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._P._Morgan), [John D. Rockefeller](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Rockefeller), [Andrew Carnegie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Carnegie), [Philip Armour](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Danforth_Armour), [Jay Gould](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Gould), and the [Mellon Family](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mellon_family), presided over the [Gilded Age](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilded_age), a period of massive wealth and resource accumulation into a small number of hands. The wealthy capitalists pushed state and federal legislation to serve their interests, and succeeded in enlisting the police to serve their interests, including pushing farmers and native americans off their land. [Henry George](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_George) and others criticized the immense accumulation of property, pointing out that the lowest classes did not share in the gains of luxury and comfort. - In the 1830s, after the accumulation of farmland by a few wealthy families, thousands of farmers forced to rent their land formed Anti-Rent associations to prevent evictions, culminating in the [Anti-Rent War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Rent_War), a guerilla war between bands of sheriffs and farmers. The wealthy used sheriffs and deputies to evict thousands of returning civil war veterans unable to pay rent. The farmers had fought, been crushed by the law, their struggle diverted into voting, and the system stabilized by enlarging the class of small landowners, leaving the basic structure of rich and poor intact. It was a common sequence in American history.