A Message to Uniformed Servicemembers Regarding National Protests.
The murder of George Floyd has rightfully sparked protests across the country. For seven minutes and fifty-two agonizing seconds, America witnessed the banality of evil as Minneapolis Police Officer Dereck Chauvin calmly “kneeled” on the neck and pressed the life out of another human being. In all respects, it is the encapsulation of the American Story which you blindly continue to defend.
You must now come to terms with the brutality within and decide whether to raise arms against your countrymen who you’ve sworn to protect or stand by and allow them to continue their journey toward providence.
First, let’s give an honest account of the consequences of a European-style human trafficking system created to demean and exploit the people of other continents in the effort to build America. Let’s talk about the lavish and decadent lifestyles of the ruling class built on the back of labor, financed by unjust taxation, and protected by organized military. Let’s talk about the terrorism employed by George Washington and the colonial armies to finally free Americans of British rule. Let’s talk about the veteran rebellion led by retired Captain Robert Shay who, when denied compensation for fighting the wars of the ruling class, turned to take what had been promised. If only America could look inward, they would see that they would become the oppressors of the New World…
Next, let’s move forward to 1860 when the question of slavery was grossly framed as a question of “state’s rights”. What is the history that isn’t taught in our schools during this era that serves as the symbol of American pride in our national memory? Was the notion of honor and freedom present when the United States government reneged on its contracts with the Native American nations of the west? Once again, the question of human freedom hinged on whether or not our federal government would honor their own tenets of human dignity and freedom. So as Mr. Lincoln set cause to ending Black slavery, he also set cause to systematically destroying the original inhabitants of this continent — the same inhabitants who shared their food and knowledge with the desperate, starved, and pathetic surviving European settlers of the Plymouth colony some 240 years earlier.
Let’s move forward again to see how that despite the so-called “abolishment” of slavery, the situation in America remained the same. In 1906, American journalist Upton Sinclair released The Jungle and exposed working conditions of poor immigrants and the revolting conditions they were expected to live in while employed in the meat-packing industry. Let’s talk about the manipulation of wealth which, at the time, forced children as young as 10 to work arduously in industries such as coal mining to support their families.
Finally, let’s reflect on the event that took place on a hot summer day in 1963 when the true birth of the American Dream gloriously arrived during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom as the prophet of America spoke brilliantly and laid out a vision for a unified America. Hundreds of thousands of Americans from all backgrounds and ethnicities descended on the viper’s nest that is Washington DC to declare loudly, in one voice, “Give us Justice”! The ruling class responded by serving us the opposite: they gave us a more insidious, legalized form of oppression and servitude methodically built upon over the last 57 years. What did they do to the prophet of the American Dream? They dog-whistled the spineless and fearful race-nationalists to do their bidding by assassinating him. Their hope was to silence the call for Liberty, but the message was already delivered and has lived in our hearts ever since.
Two hundred forty-four years after the Declaration of Independence famously declared the rights to “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”, it’s become painfully and disgustingly apparent that those charged with the duty of serving and protecting OUR communities have been manipulated into terrorizing those communities for the benefit of the ruling class. One hundred fifty-seven years after President Lincoln declared America to be a nation “conceived in Liberty”, they’ve managed to convert America into the largest penal colony in the world, again to the benefit of the ruling class.
The MURDER of George Floyd has RIGHTFULLY sparked protests across the country. I shudder to imagine the terror and helplessness which undoubtedly tormented the thoughts of Mr. Floyd in his dying moments and yet, the ruling class STILL has the audacity to call for peaceful protest…
No. Peace is a condition which only benefits the ruling class. Peace is a condition where the few live in luxury and the many in squalor. Peace is a condition whereby human suffering is the status quo. Peace is a condition where we, the People, can be manipulated into believing that things will eventually change as life and dignity are squeezed from us. We are disgusted by the suggestion that we can be systematically forced into obedience and servitude and asked to smile about it on the empty chance that “we’ll get through this”. We reject their concept of peace and you should too, lest the burdens of armed conflict weigh heavy on your conscience.
There is virtually nothing positive about the American story which you defend, enacted by the new aristocracy. With cause rooted in necessity and desperation, We, the People, challenge the history of lies which built this country because nothing has changed. America is the same as it has ever been: deceitful and oppressive. It just uses more clever methods to veil the nasty intentions of those who seek to control and exploit our labor, our land, our value, and our dignity. The fire that burns the sins of the ruling class has finally arrived and cannot be extinguished. We respectfully ask that you disobey orders to harm American citizens and instead guide them towards a peaceful replacement of this abusive, oppressive legacy.
Respectfully,
William Snyder
Proud USMC Veteran (2006–2010) and current anti-war advocate
