|
|
|
COAIM BLOG CO AIM LATEST NEWS MEDIA
|
7 July 1992 JUSTICE "...and finally the tables are starting to turn; I'm talkin' 'bout a revolution." - Tracy Chapman The verdict handed down on June 26 in the trial of four American lndian Movement (AIM) members in the Denver County Court produced an expected howl of outrage from the pages of the Rocky Mountain News. The News' objection to the verdict was not so much that justice was not served, but, rather, that its brand of justice was not served. The News would like to portray AIM members as brown-shirted bullies who deprived Columbus Day revelers of their "rights" last October 12. How unfortunate that the News editorial writers did not bother to attend the trial prior to reaching their judgments and conclusions. What the jury decided - after two days of testimony and evidence - was that the continuing celebration of Columbus and his colonial legacy was sufficiently offensive and inciteful to American lndians so as to justify our reaction to the parade. How unfortunate that you did not hear the graphic testimony of the continuing genocide against American lndian people and of the direct and continuous ideological line of oppression that flows from 1492 to 1992. How unfortunate that you did not hear the testimony challenging the notion that the parade is protected speech under the First Amendment. Now this notion may be difficult for the News to follow, but try to stay with me for a moment. Not all speech is protected under the U.S. Constitution. Perhaps it should be, but that is a different column. The fact is that it is not. Falsely yelling "fire" in a crowded theater, threatening to kill the President, using speech to defraud someone, publishing obscene material, and defaming someone falsely are all examples of speech that may be prohibited or regulated by the state. Since 1988, the United States has been a part to the 1948 Convention on Punishment and Prevention of the Crime of Genocide. Under provisions of the Convention, which is now considered part of the federal law of the United States, the crime of genocide, as well as public incitement to commit genocide, and complicity with genocide, are violations of federal and international law. It was, and remains the position of the AIM defendants that the Columbus Day Parade endorses, promotes and advances genocide against American lndians by justifying, lionizing, and elevating to national hero status Christopher Columbus, the architect and instigator of the European genocide against our people. Fortunately, the jurors, after weighing all the evidence (unlike the News), saw the truth and justice in our position, and acquitted us. In reaching its conclusions, the jury overcame the enormous influence of the educational, political and media institutions of the Americas that view lndians as historical anachronisms and impediments to Western "progress. Instead, the jurors saw us as human beings, with the right to protect our people from the extermination that most of this society has sought for us since 1492. What is obviously more frightening to the News than the acquittal of the defendants is the truly revolutionary position of the jurors that the American brand of justice 500 years after the arrival of Columbus no longer requires the oppression of American lndian people. It means that the lies written in ink about the glory and heroism of Columbus and his successors should no longer disguise the facts of genocide against indigenous peoples, a crime that continues as you read these words. We do not expect the News either to understand or to endorse the actions of the jury. After all, it is commonplace for those with power to protect that power possessively. In this case, the jury was able to crack the foundation of that power, and of the most essential mythology of America. Columbus did not discover America; indigenous peoples were not primitive savages waiting at the shoreline for the blessings of European "civilization," and the Americas are not a better place as a result of the invasion of our homeland. What the jury saw was an opportunity, ever so slight, to begin the process of historical rectification and the healing of this society - not by returning our stolen lands or resources to us, not by resurrecting the millions of our ancestors murdered by violence, disease and alcohol, but by allowing indigenous people, for one day, at an historically significant moment, to make a statement about how Columbus Day and Columbus Day parades continue to perpetuate racism and destruction against us and our nations. The jury said that free speech does not belong only to the oppressor; that the oppressed also have a right to speak, and to speak effectively. It said that Colorado AIM's symbolic speech in reaction to the Columbus Day Parade was justified by general principles of justice, and by the U.S. Constitution. If justice and freedom are to be realized for everyone in this society, a revolution in thinking and remembering must begin, and it must begin at the beginning. AIM believes, and the jury endorsed, the words of the late Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Hugo Black, who wrote that "the Framers [of the Constitution] knew that free speech is the friend of change and revolution. Glenn Morris is the. Co-Director of the American Indian Movement of Colorado and an associate professor of political science at CU-Denver. |
|
© 2004-2005
Colorado AIM Contact us at
denveraim@coloradoaim.org or
303-832-2544 |
