-
Period: to
White Trash
Class 'war' against white people who were sent to the colonies by England to reduce the number of 'idle and unproductive' in large cities. Includes those subject to indentured servitude, outright slavery, and child labor. Continues to this day in reality with the economic war against the poor, unhoused, and weak. -
Period: to
Guns & Gun Violence
Private citizens in the US own approximately 300 million firearms (~30% of all households). The US is number one in school and other mass shootings, far exceeding any other nation in terms of frequency number of fatalities. More than one half of all gun deaths are suicides. 37% are homicides. The US has the highest rate of gun deaths per capita in the developed world (from 2021 data). Our homicide rate ranks 30th in the world but the suicide rate is 2nd (data from 2016). -
Period: to
Wealth Inequality
Wealth inequality in the United States has been a significant issue for decades, with the gap between the rich and the poor widening over time. The top 1%of households hold over 30% of the country's wealth. The bottom 50% holds less than 3%.
Consequences include:
- Reduced Social Mobility traps households in poverty
- Increased Political Polarization leading to social unrest
- Health and Social Problems leading to poor outcomes for poor people -
Period: to
African Slavery
A Major Horror -
Period: to
Genocide of Native Peoples
Another Major Horror -
Period: to
Prisons and the American Justice System
This includes but not limited to:
- Laws targeting People of Color and the poor
- Policing practices re: People of Color and the poor
- Use of private para-military groups (e.g., the Pinkertons) to abuse and intimidate workers, strikers, and other powerless peoples
- Dehumanization of jail/prison populations
- Death penalty -
Period: to
Bigotry and laws against foreigners
- Murders of Asian and Asian-Americans in the mid-late 19th Century
- Bigotry against the Irish, Europeans, Latin Americans, in early 20th Century
-
Period: to
Healthcare Inequality
One of the wealthiest nations on the planet has a dismal record of providing timely and effective healthcare to many of its citizens. The disparities in access to quality healthcare services is often based on factors such as race, ethnicity, geographic location, economic status, and insurance coverage. These disparities lead to significant differences in health outcomes. In the past, Black Americans would not receive emergency medical care if the only provider nearby catered to Whites only. -
Federal Indian Removal Act of 1830
The Indian Removal Act was one of many actions taken by the U.S. government that attempted to eliminate Native American people and seize their land and resources. The act led to the relocation of nearly 50,000 Native Americans to Indian Territory, which is now eastern Oklahoma. -
Period: to
Our Wonderful Wars
- The Mexican war/land grab (1830)
- Civil war to protect slavery (1861 - 1865)
- Cuba/Spanish American war (1898)
- Korean war (1950 - 1953)
- Vietnam war (1955 - 1975)
- Iraq and Afghanistan wars (2001 - 2022)
-
Period: to
Trail of Tears
The Cherokee people were forcibly removed in the winter of 1838–1839 on a march that became known as the Trail of Tears. Approximately 4,000 Cherokees died on the march. Others followed this same trail of removal for another 10 years or more -
Period: to
Manifest Destiny
- The divine right to expand Westward from sea to shining sea
- Take everything that we could and kill anyone in the way
-
California Indian Removal Act
California state government, incited, aided and financed miners, settlers, ranchers and people's militias to enslave, kidnap, or murder a major proportion of California’s Indigenous people -
Period: to
Indian Wars
The peak of the wars to commit genocide was in the period from 1860 - 1885, but wars against native peoples began in 1622 with the Jamestown Massacre and the colonists response. These wars continued for the next 250+ years -
Period: to
Rise of the KKK et al
White supremacist groups formed during Reconstruction to intimidate, abuse and murder newly freed Blacks. Membership included ranking officials of the towns and cities where the KKK held sway. The groups' popularity waxed and waned over decades, and the reverberations of these groups exist today in the Proud Boys, militia groups, racist skinheads, and Neo-Nazis. -
Period: to
Race riots
- Tulsa
- Wilmington, NC (actually a coup d'état)
- Rosewood, Fl
- Chicago
- Many others
-
Period: to
Jim Crow era
- Jim Crow laws mandated racial segregation in all public facilities in the states of the former Confederate States of America and in some others, beginning in the 1870s”
- Sunset laws -- Don’t be out after dark if you’re not white
- Vagrancy laws -- Used to effectively return black people to slavery status
- Voter suppression laws
-
Period: to
Lynchings
- 4,743 lynchings in the US
- 72% African-Americans
- Many others including immigrants and anti-lynching folks
-
Refusal to allow the MS St. Louis to Enter
Carrying over 900 Jewish refugees, the ship sailed from Hamburg, Germany to Cuba where the ship was not allowed to disembark any passengers under pressure from anti-Semitic groups. The ship then sailed to the US where the US government (FDR) denied the ship entry and the St. Louis was forced to return to Europe. Many of the passengers were ultimately sent back to Germany where they faced persecution, internment, and death. -
Period: to
Military Industrial Complex
This shadow industry pulls in the bulk of our military budget each year and promotes annual increases by lobbying intensively. The defense budget, currently north of $900 Billion when including special requests, is 50% larger than the combined budgets of the next 5 countries. This unbalanced spending for the implements of war results in reduced funding for other programs that could alleviate suffering and provide for the public good. -
Period: to
Internment of Japanese Americans
Executive Order 9066 (by FDR) authorized the Secretary of War to designate military areas from which people were excluded. This resulted in the forced incarceration of ~120,000 people of Japanese descent, including US citizens. They were sent to camps located in harsh conditions often forced to abandon their businesses, jobs, homes, and friends. The Supreme Court in 1944 upheld the constitutionality of the internment. -
Hiroshima & Nagasaki atomic bombings
The first and only use of atomic weapons in warfare. Combined fatalities by the end of 1945 exceeded 220,00 people, with countless more dying from radiation exposure complications in the following years. It is said that the bombings brought a close to WWII. The need for the 2nd bombing of Nagasaki remains an open question. -
Period: to
CIA Covert Operations
This is an incomplete list of CIA operations in foreign countries
- Overthrow of Iranian Prime Minister Mossadegh (1953)
- Overthrow of Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz (1954)
- Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961)
- Murder of Salvador Allende (1973) unproven
- Operation Condor (1970s-1980s)
- Support for Contras in Nicaragua (1980s)
- CIA renditions of suspected terrorists including their torture (2001 - ?)
- Political assassinations (Unproven) -
Period: to
McCarthyism
A period in American history marked by intense anti-communist sentiment and the persecution of suspected communists. Senator Joseph McCarthy made unsubstantiated accusations against government officials and others, claiming they were communists or communist sympathizers. Many reputations, careers, and lives were ruined by his accusations and those of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). This also had a chilling effect on free speech and dissent. -
Period: to
Climate Crisis Denialism & the Fossil Fuel industry
Tactics include:
- Conspiracy theories
- False equivalency
- Ad hominem attacks
- Manufacturing doubt
- Cherry-picking data Motivations include:
- Economic-protect the Fossil Fuel industry
- Political
- Avoiding uncomfortable truths Resulting in:
- Delayed action
- Confusion
- The end of the world for our grandkids