Whose Independence Day?

Mass trial at federal Courthouse, Pecos, Texas, 2018. In the public domain. Author: Federal Courthouse, Pecos, Tex.

by Kathie MM

On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass, man of color, social reformer,  orator,  statesman, and fugitive from slavery in Maryland, had the following to say about the Fourth of July:

“What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days of the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is a constant victim.

To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy — a thin veil to cover up crimes that would disgrace a nation of savages.”

Douglass’s words continue to ring true for millions of people in the United States today–men, women, and children routinely denied the liberty and justice for all promised to those who came to our shores.  Just consider a few examples:

The remnants of the Native American genocides, survivors who continue to see treaties broken, lands stolen and/or polluted, rights disregarded;

The 2.2 million men and women incarcerated in this country (significantly higher than any other country in the world) and the racial discrimination built into sentencing,

Zero tolerance immigration policies  towards men, women, children, and babies, more than tired and poor,  fleeing danger and death.

Please, this Fourth of July, think of how we can do it better. Activism in the form of protests, demonstrations, petitions, and relentless shaming and exposure of the  perpetrators of social injustice is probably essential; however, we also need to think creatively about combatting the fear and hatred those perpetrators deliberately seek to inflame for their own purposes. Many haters and hurters are reacting to their own anxieties and suffering in ways that help only the power mongers.

Can we create messages of love and brotherhood and sisterhood that can overcome the incentives to hatred and violence?

Can we follow the example of Kristin Mink, the brave young woman who spoke truth to power when the opportunity presented itself?  If more seekers after peace, social justice, and preservation of a viable earth followed her example, perhaps next year’s Fourth of July would be an independence day for more of our nation’s people, and our planet would have a greater chance to survive.

P.S. No, I don’t think the power mongers, the racists, the hate purveyors, the despoilers of the environment, the enemies of peace and social justice are entitled to relaxing meals with their buddies and secret service agents in public places.

Please let me know what you think about this.

 

Reflections on Torture

A group of slaves in front of the US Capitol. Author unknown.
Published prior to January 1, 1923. In the public domain.

By Guest Author, Anthony J. Marsella

My study of the history of torture led me to conclude that our understanding of the nature, meaning, and consequences of “torture” may best be advanced by construing “torture,” not solely as a separate and distinct act of brutality and violence, but as part of a broader spectrum of behaviors, events, and forces that justify, promote, and legalize atrocities and brutalities within many contexts and circumstances.

These contexts and circumstances include all forms of asymmetric power relations including those promoted and sustained by political, military, economic, educational, domestic, and religious institutions and powers.

In this respect, acts of torture must be seen as ultimately related to the spectrum of extreme and lesser forms of violence and abuse including genocides, massacres, war crimes, human sacrifices, domestic abuses of women & children  that are driven, promoted, and sometimes sanctioned by biological, psychological, societal,  cultural, and situational variables.

Separating torture from other brutalities may be useful for legal reasons (i.e., criminal prosecution).  But ultimately, our understanding of acts of torture will best be considered within the broader spectrum of forces, events, and situations that have occurred.

The “Genus” (i.e., a class of objects or acts) of atrocities, brutalities and extreme acts of  violence that constitute forms of torture include”: Genocides, Massacres, Human and Animal Sacrifices, War, Battle Brutalities and Atrocities, Ethnic Cleansing, Sadistic Entertainment, Serial Murders, Hate Crimes, Lynchings, Witch Hunts, Death Marches, Capital Punishments, Assassinations, Terrorism/Counter Terrorism, Bullying, Forced Prostitution, Rapes, Acts of Torture.

To these I must add the institutions of  Slavery, Colonization, Imperialism, Economic Exploitation  and Abuses, and Various Entertainment and Recreational Sports and Games. All are or include forms of torture.

All have in common the explicit motivations of control and domination, and a willingness to inflict pain, suffering, fear, trauma humiliation, powerlessness, and death to achieve certain ends.

 


Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D., a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment, is a past president of Psychologists for Social Responsibility, Emeritus Professor of psychology at the University of Hawaii’s Manoa Campus in Honolulu, Hawaii, and past director of the World Health Organization Psychiatric Research Center in Honolulu.  He is known internationally as a pioneer figure in the study of culture and psychopathology who challenged the ethnocentrism and racial biases of many assumptions, theories, and practices in psychology and psychiatry. In more recent years, he has been writing and lecturing on peace and social justice. He has published 21 books and more than 300 articles, tech reports, and popular commentaries. He can be reached at marsella@hawaii.edu