LIFE IN THE DEMOCRACY OF FEAR
by Mumia Abu-Jamal
[Col. Writ. 7/22/02]
FEAR does funny things to people.
As a direct result of the national wave of fear flooding the U.S., hundreds (if not thousands) of men are held virtually incommunicado in state, federal and military jails; a national snitch program is being proposed, and high-ranking military officials are angling for control of the nation's interior, including its police powers, in the name of "national security."
Although much of this is attributable to the events of 9/11, it is not mere coincidence that these efforts are taking place in the midst of rising unemployment and a widening economic recession.
High-ranking government and military officials, always in search of more power, now wants even more.
It wants Congress to repeal or seriously water down the Posse Comitatus Act, which restricts the military from domestic law enforcement.
History, especially in times of great national hysteria, teaches us important lessons about when the military runs things.
When soldiers of the Japanese Empire struck Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, it would not be long before the media, the military and the politicians launched a racist assault on people of Japanese ancestry -- even those who were born in the U.S., and were therefore, according to U.S. law, American citizens.
John L. DeWitt, the West Coast army commander, said it plainly, "The Japanese race is an enemy race, and while many second and third generation Japanese born on United States soil, possessed of United States citizenship, have become 'Americanized,' the racial strains are undiluted."
When it was raised to Gen. DeWitt that there was no evidence of Japanese American "sabotage or espionage," the General saw this as proof of their sneaky nature, "The very fact that no sabotage has taken place to date is a disturbing and confirming indication that such action will be taken." [See "A People's History of the Supreme Court," by Peter Irons, p. 350.]
When no proof becomes absolute proof, what is proof, but opinion?
In Gen. DeWitt's words, "A Jap's a Jap."
Period.
The Supreme Court, in the infamous Korematsu and Hirabayashi cases, although they used more elegant words, agreed.
Over 100,000 men, women and children were sent to U.S. concentration camps, in the nation's lifeless and desolate deserts, because they were guilty of being "Japs."
A racist, sensationalist media, a power-hungry bigoted military leadership, and a craven corps of politicians and judges, -- voila! -- you have hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, and more, in concentration camps.
For years!
Does this sound at all familiar?
Look around you.
What is now taking place in Cuba's Guantanamo Bay took place on Indian reservations 60 years ago.
Progress?
Or are we seeing the grim shadows of a repeat of U.S. history?
Land of the free -- indeed.
Text © copyright 2002 by Mumia Abu-Jamal.
All rights reserved.
Reprinted by permission of the author.Share this page with a friend
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