The tragic bombing that occurred at the Boston Marathon cannot be looked at in only black and white terms. Conspiracy theorists and political hacks are having a heyday with this. I am content with saying I don’t know what exactly happened or why the bombing took place.
History tells me that when one is dealing with the U.S. government and the free marketers, who place profit and power before people, almost anything is possible. But the bombing does raise some questions and some eyebrows!
Like some other folks, the announcement that the authorities were looking for a “dark-skinned” suspect made me go, “Uh-oh.” It was a curious description considering that the suspects are really Caucasians. Chechnya includes much of the Caucasus mountain area.
Clearly, the Tsarnaev brothers are insane. Only insane folks would bomb and on purpose try to kill or maim human beings, especially other folks who had not harmed them personally. It’s not clear what their motives were, though early reports have said that the youngest bomber who is in custody said he was motivated by religious reasons. If so, that makes it more insane, since the basis of most religions is peace and improved relationships between human beings.
It’s not yet clear whether the brothers were carrying out the attack in retaliation for the U.S. taking the side of Russia in its struggle to continue to rule over Chechnya. The Russian Chechen conflict started in the mid 1990s when the Chechen’s — who are primarily Muslim — attempted to break from Russia and declare themselves independent.
Tens of thousands of lives were lost as that conflict reached its peak in the mid 1990s. While Russia has regained control through the current Chechen prime minister, groups still fighting for independence have resorted to terror tactics.
The Chechen rebels have said they had nothing to do with the bombing and are not taking credit for it. But not knowing has not stilled the propagandists in our society or the novices who have begun to blame immigration policy for the bombing. Whenever I hear it, I want to say to the people having the conversation, “When should the country have stopped letting folks in? Right before your parents got here?”
That’s right, everybody here came from someplace else except for Native Americans, who the foreigners tried to wipe out. In fact, I have heard Black folks talking about, “We let too many of them in.” Of course, it’s a curious use of the word “we,” since Black folks are still catching hell at the hands of government policy.
Black folks are still being victimized by mandatory minimum drug laws and the system can’t find a way to educate most of its children. Just recently the government couldn’t bring itself to force gun peddlers — who, by the way, bring most of the guns into the “hood” — to at least submit to background checks.
And, “the” government could barely find it in its heart to at least examine what happened to our departed brother Trayvon Martin. But we still run around saying “we.” Curious people, those African Americans.
Speaking of propaganda, it’s certain that the U.S. government will use this to attempt to take away more of our liberties in the name of protecting us. I was amused by the young people who took to the streets waving flags shouting, “USA! USA!” I can only hope their blind devotion is rewarded.
Even the cops got in on the good feeling. I noticed during the celebration in Boston folks were kissing and hugging the police. I even saw some young Black women hugging and cheering on the police. My skeptical side wondered, “Will they still be hugging in Roxbury tomorrow?”
Police and other authorities’ efforts to apprehend the suspects broke new ground. Authorities were able to shut Boston down, which has to be hard to do, but they succeeded. I suspect that if things get really tight in the good ole U.S. of A., then we will have witnessed a foreshadowing of things to come. I can’t help but see it as a test run for that day, if it comes, when folks have seen all the way through the American lie and say enough is enough.
Just as importantly, I hope this tragedy gives thinking people a chance to look at why someone might want to take a shot at the U.S. The U.S. government has acted as insanely as these two hapless brothers, murdering human beings to make a point — human beings who, by the way, in most cases hadn’t done anything to them.
Does anyone know the real reason the government attacked Afghanistan or Iraq? Most likely most North Americans have no idea the amount of terror that was rained on those societies by U.S. forces. Thousands of people have died for no good reason considering they weren’t taking part in any conflict and just happened to be trying to live in their country.
U.S. drone warfare supposedly targets enemies of the state. Maybe it would be more acceptable if they didn’t kill so many innocent bystanders and then shrug it off, as if loss of human lives can just be dismissed with a shrug. Or even worse, a policy that says a certain number of innocent deaths (collateral damage) is acceptable. Who says?
The bottom line is that as long as this government kills for the sake of power and profit, nothing and nobody in our country will be safe. It’s still true that “violence begets violence.” Even the U.S., with all its sophisticated technology, is not immune — or safe — from retaliation.
Mel Reeves welcomes reader responses to mreeves@spokesman-recorder.com.
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