Have you even heard of Five Points in New York where it was a free for all between rival gangs, from immigrant roots? How about the treatment Irish immigrants from 1820 to 1880? Where would Boston be today without the heritage derived from their Irish fore-bearers forced into an enclave by bigotry and whose criminal element preyed upon their own? As the tale was related to me by a Bostonian, Irish boys had three choices of careers: be a Priest, a crook or a Cop and the lines between were often blurred with large families that had sons and brothers in each profession. Do you ignore this to claim we Whites are blameless, free from sin? The litany goes on. It wasn't just ethnic discrimination or color discrimination.
Tales of Five Points: Working Class Life in Nineteenth Century New York-Volume IV. Basic Artifact Inventory. the Courthouse Block (Block 160). Part 1 of 2.
Tales of Five Points: Working Class Life in Nineteenth Century New York-Volume IV. Basic Artifact Inventory. the Courthouse Block (Block 160). Part 2 of 2.
How about the Mormon Massacre in Utah over Religion? Or the criminals that murdered men in California during the Gold Rush for just the promise of gold represented by a mining claim? Tell me how proud you are about the US government and the relations with Native American peoples. The broken treaties, the stolen lands. Admit that Andrew Jackson is your Hero for forcing the Cherokee out of Georgia so his buddies could get at the gold in the ground. First to the Florida swamps and when that wasn't good enough forcing good Christian, educated citizens off their ancestral land to which they had modern deed of ownership to take the murderous march to the Oklahoma territories.
Tell me Mr. Walsh about the justification for Wounded Knee, the blankets deliberately infected with smallpox delivered to the reservation to thin the population of the Red Devils, the rotten beef, the spoiled grain, the war the US Army waged on the Native population for decades.
And tell me, please, Mr. Walsh about the honor of the troops in Viet Nam who at their commanders orders killed women an children in their homes. The troops followed orders; I want you to claim the same innocence for their superiors, if you dare. We sprayed their land from the air with Agent Orange, cratered the ground with mission after mission of B-52 bombing and poisoned their water with oil and dead bodies to make it non-potable, for decades. Today, 50 years later, Vietnamese suffer incredible rates of cancer, stillbirths and endless chronic illnesses. Not to mention the shameful, intractable damage done to our own young soldiers who suffer PTSD, hepatitis, Prostate cancer and skin problems to this day as a result of poisoning that beautiful country.
No GI, Viet Nam Vet, that I have ever talked to,Search Amazon.com for Tales of Five Points: Working Class Life in Nineteenth Century New York-Volume IV. Basic Artifact Inventory. the Courthouse Block (Block 160). Part 1 of 2.
either while I served during the conflict or anytime since has been proud of this. Are You? If you are, it would go a long way toward explaining your vicious use of lies to support the expulsion of those that preceded you and yours on this continent. The blood of the Aztecs and Incas run through the veins of Mexico You sound a lot like the words spoken on the Congressional floor about marijuana in the late nineteen Thirties, the evil weed had to be kept out of America because it might make a Black Man look at a White Woman twice. Is this where you are really coming from? Have you joined Joe Arpaio and Russell Pearce in blaming a man for being Brown?From what I have gleaned from Phoenix residents, the drug cartels don't care who they sell to, White, Black or Brown. All they want is green. Blood red is bad for business unless it is for the elimination of competition. Kidnapping capital of the country? Kidnappers here are Mexican nationals and or Mexican-Americans working with the coyotes (human smugglers not drug), trying to squeeze a few more dollars out of the wretched they have helped across the line in the sand or their families, already here, successful by Mexican standards, but poor measured against the likes of you. Yet you would act like a Robber Baron of old taking whatever steps, telling whatever lies, scaring whoever that might read and believe your drivel, to keep out those whose ambition exceeds your own, claiming moral superiority over peasants who never killed a Vietnamese or Native American or Black or Irish.
You know , sir, that the Mexicans on either side of the border no matter where born, celebrate the Saint Patrick's Brigade. Sons of Erie that were so downtrodden, so destitute, so discriminated against, so desperate for the freedom they thought was promised by America and it's Constitution and then so disillusioned that they fled the US and fought with Mexico against the US Army in the dust-up over who owned the Texicans. Remember them? Colonel Travis, Colonel Bowie and the Kentuckian, Davy Crockett. They wanted Freedom too. Freedom from Mexico, freedom from the Federal Government of the United States, Freedom to organize their own country and build their own future. Not so different I think from the stunt Sam Adams, Paul Revere, Thomas Paine and that famous traitor to the Crown, George Washington.
Does "Remember the Alamo" ring a bell, or "Give me Liberty or Give me Death"? The privations of Valley Forge, the stand to the death of the Alamo defenders, the persecution of southern Blacks and now the vilification and prosecution of Brown skinned folk by Joe Arpaio, elected sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona. Yes, the headline grabbing, racial profiling, inmate murdering, County dividing, venal little man long known as "Nickel Bag Joe", for his practice of picking on the little guy, the defenseless, those for the pettiest of offenses for self aggrandizement. This time he has not just terrorized a town or a City or a County but has whipped a State Legislature into a hysterical move but has drawn the entire Country into his delusion on one side or another. You have bought into his hysterical claims and twist facts and misinterpret others to spread his venomous propaganda. Please tell me Mr. Walsh, that you write your bull to sell papers, in the very best tradition of William Randolph Hearst, lies and innuendo for the sake of circulation. It truly scares me to think that Billions to station troops on the border and billions more to build a wall of shame that will haunt forever those that live in its shadow is really what you seek.
Save your venom Mr. Walsh for America's enemies, the non state actors who, for the sake of religion (some), for the sake of money (a few) and for the sake of hating America and wishing to do Her harm (all), strive to commit terrorist acts here in the US and anywhere abroad amongst our friends for the sake of terror, destruction and blood. Don't waste it on our neighbors just trying to make a decent living. And quit trying to convict an entire country and their descendants for the crimes of a few. You have far more to be ashamed of as a US citizen, native born especially, than any Mexican could begin to think of. I, sir, am a Patriot. I served my country honorably, as did my father, my grandfather and my great grandfather and his two brothers who fought side by side in the War of the Great Rebellion. My son serves today, as did his mother. I am proud of the good things this Country has done for Her citizens and for many more around the world. I believe in the Constitution and believe it needs defending from domestic enemies now more than ever. I did my duty so that you have the right of free expression, as do I.. But I am ashamed to claim you as a countryman for your hateful, distasteful commentary.
Bert
Tales of Five Points: Working Class Life in Nineteenth Century New York-Volume III. Documentary Data
Tales of Five Points: Working Class Life in Nineteenth Century New York-Volume III Documentary Data
The cesspool of crime, or, Important discoveries and disclosures in demolishing the old brewery at the Five Points, N.Y
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