just a select few examples of the federal government’s awfulness over the years
Way back in 1890, as part of a gun confiscation attempt to pacify the west, the US Army moved on Wounded Knee Creek and attempted to disarm the Native American population there. The Native Americans refused; notably, one man named Black Coyote did not want to give up his rifle, the rifle was accidentally fired, and a shootout began. The US Army massacred between 250 and 300 Native Americans simply because they would not comply with unconstitutional orders to give up their personal property. (source) I’m using this as an early example of federal forces infringing on Americans’ rights, and because:
Years later, it was 1973. 200 Sioux Native Americans occupied Wounded Knee, where many years prior, the massacre had been carried out by the US 7th Cavalry. They took 11 residents hostage, demanding that the Senate investigate the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Sioux reservations in South Dakota, as well as holding hearings on how many treaties between Native Americans and the government had been broken over so many years. It took 71 days to come to an end; over that time, feds shot two Sioux men and wounded several other people. “(…) leaders and their supporters surrendered after officials promised to investigate their complaints. Russell Means and Dennis Banks were arrested, but on September 16, 1973, the charges against them were dismissed by a federal judge because of the U.S. government’s unlawful handling of witnesses and evidence.” (source)
The government could have deescalated with the discussion they asked for, but they resorted to violence instead. Of course it’s not okay to take hostages and threaten people’s lives, but sometimes people do fucked up things for desperate causes, and the feds had clear opportunities to end the suffering on all sides during the occupation.
It was 1992. Randy Weaver was on his private property with his family. There was an outstanding warrant for Randy’s arrest: He’d failed to appear for a firearms charge. Randy’d had a shotgun with a barrel of a little over 17 inches instead of 18 and they were out to arrest him about it. US Marshals entered the private property; when the dog barked at them, they shot and killed it. Sammy, Randy’s 14-year-old son, shot into the woods at the then-unknown trespasser who’d killed the dog; Sammy killed an agent and one of the agents shot Sammy in the back, killing him. After that, FBI snipers surrounded their house for days. They shot and wounded Randy and they shot and killed his wife while she was standing in the doorway with a baby in her arms. (”Ruby Ridge”: source, source, source, source)
Did Randy commit a crime? Yes, technically. But was this an appropriate response from government for a ‘crime’ like cutting your barrel too short? Of course not. Killing an innocent dog and mother holding her child in a standoff is batshit no matter what the crime was. Shooting someone in the back is also regarded as lowly and cowardly in every way, and that FBI agent shot a 14-year-old in the back, at that.
Not quite as clear-cut was 1993. There was a religious sect holed up in their compound in Texas. The ATF heard they had illegal machine guns in there, but nothing was confirmed. There were rumors of child abuse and drug trafficking as well, but these were also unconfirmed. Rather than investigating members of the sect, the ATF obtained a search warrant for the compound and raided it. First they shot the dogs, in typical government fashion. The sect members fought back; four agents were killed and six members of the sect. The FBI arrived and initiated a siege that lasted 51 days, all while over 100 people were in the compound; this culminated with tear gas attacks from the FBI agents and a fire starting, supposedly by sect members. Very few members left due to the tear gas, instead hiding further in the building; once the fire started, chaos ensued and 76 people died. This included women and children and the men who weren’t in the fight at all. (”Waco Siege”: source, source, source)
People of the sect definitely seemed to be unstable, but were all 82 that died guilty of whatever the government thought they were onto about the rumors? What if they were coerced into staying inside by the leaders of the sect? No matter what laws may have been broken, no matter who started the fire, which party escalated the situation to the point of physical harm and casualties? The feds did, right from the start.
Ruby Ridge and Waco were near-certainly the social catalysts for the motivations of the 1995 Oklahoma City federal building bomber, which has led to political unrest and media accusations. Whether the left, right, middle, or unaffiliated are angry about those cases, the behavior of the federal agencies in those cases is still the original problem through which all the other problems developed.
…And now, it’s 2019 and the main government oppressor appears to be ICE. I’m sure I don’t need to link any articles about the border or the raids because Tumblr is very aware of the issues. The Fourth Amendment says:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
But Thomas Homan, acting director of ICE, said before Congress in June 2017:
“You should be uncomfortable. You should look over your shoulder. You need to be worried. No population is off the table.” (source)
He just doesn’t seem to have an attitude respectful of privacy and personal security, does he? He thinks of the civilian population as being full of potential enemies and nothing else. He’s protecting his bootlicker utopian vision of America, not America. When people like him think of ‘defending America’, they don’t think of defending the People as they are; they think of policing who the ‘People’ are allowed to be comprised of in the first place. Even if ICE claims their policies don’t violate the Constitution by being “unreasonable”, the entire outlook is unconstitutional. Telling people they shouldn’t feel secure in this country is an unconstitutional viewpoint. Laws can be whatever they are and it won’t stop them from being unconstitutional.
I could make this post miles long, so I’ll switch to bullets again for the last infodump
the CIA has to declassify the unethical, grotesque shit they do sometimes and it just kinda blows over afterward (TW for assault of all kinds mentioned in the article linked) Their website always looks nice though! They’ve got something about sharks on there right now, wow that’s great thank you CIA I seem to have magically forgotten about the torture
the CIA also planned to commit terroristic acts of violence and blame it all on Cuba in order to justify a war with Cuba – Operation Northwoods, 1962
the FBI says “don’t forget me!” For while the CIA appears to handle most of the physical atrocities, the FBI has informational atrocities covered. Their website always makes sure to tell you who the other kind of bad guys are at the moment, though!
but wait, the NSA! Because while the CIA chains people up naked and the FBI stalks First Amendment rights activists, the NSA watches. …And watches. And watches. And tracks, and tracks, and tracks, and informs and informs and informs. Whose names are they writing down? What makes them interested in you or not interested in you? Why don’t they give a shit about our right to privacy: to feel secure in our persons, houses, papers, and effects? What reason is there to trust the United States federal government?
Please feel free to add examples to this post. I stuck with federal government as a topic because I’m stemming off the Constitution talk, but it all should be talked about, feds and cops and state legislators and all.
