19 April 2010 Same date different memories & values

19 April 2010 Same date different memories & values


In Oklahoma City the citizens are remembering the 15th anniversary of the bombing of the Murraw Federal Office Building by Timothy McVeigh. Adults and their children were killed or injured by the detonation of truck bomb. It is recalled as the largest act of domestic terrorism on U.S. soil. McVeigh was a militia member, a former enlisted soldier in the U.S. Army, and was executed for his actions.

In Washington D.C. the 2nd Amendment March is taking place. This is apparently a gathering of gun owners and enthusiast who are concerned at supposed erosion of 2nd amendment rights. These demonstrators have to march without firearms as they are prohibited in the march area. There’s a bit of irony to that situation.

Also marching today, in Virginia, are other gun owners. A “Restore the Constitution Rally” is scheduled to take place in Fort Hunt, run by the National Park Service, and to Gravelly Point on the banks of the Potomac River, as near as they can bring their firearms to the national capital. This group of protestors is more alarming than the 2nd Amendment March – which disavows all connection with the group in Ft. Hunt despite sharing two speakers. Some of them are former or active cops or soldiers who have decided to collectively use force of arms to prevent the implementation of civil or military orders they believe unconstitutional. Other participants are members of various militias, various gun activist groups, and some calling frankly for violence in order to “defend their Constitution”. “Retake their nation,” “defeat socialism,” and restructure the government as they believe it should be.

The Ft. Hunt band is not a benign group of target shooters, hunters, or even gun collectors. They are potential internal terrorists in the manner of McVeigh or Rudolph. They’ve collectively decided that they know what the Constitution’s framer meant it to be. They seem to be strongly related to the Christian Identity movement, as hateful and racist a movement as this nation has ever known. They are not people I care to have living nearby.

Also in today’s history is the Gregorian calendar’s anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Revolt in 1943. On Erev Pesach the Nazis assayed to remove the remaining 50,000 or so Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto by means of force. They marshaled Polish and Baltic auxiliary troops and police to enter the ghetto under the oversight of the SS. Expecting no resistance, they marched into the ghetto to a central location, to be met with a hail of bullets and Molotov cocktails. A second attempt on the following day was also repulsed by Jews who chose to fight for life rather than surrender for transport to Treblinka and extermination.

The Germans were forced to level the ghetto with artillery and aerial bombardment. Even after that the Jews inside continued to resist. Ghetto fighter leaders begged for help from Warsaw and the Polish nation’s underground. None came. The ghetto held out for 43 days, longer than the nation of Poland in 1939. Some survivors made it to Israel after WWII and lived together on a kibbutz. They are a shining example of men and women who take up arms for the right reasons. They fought in defense of others and in their own defense; not worshipping their weapons or their willingness to fight. They are rightfully recalled as heroes, as patriots for a nation that came to exist only after years of further struggle.

The various militias in America, the “oath keeper” group that will be calling for violence today at Ft. Hunt; are not patriots, not heroes, and should be closely watched by local, state, and federal police agencies. They have the right to assemble, to carry their firearms, and to proclaim their dissatisfaction with our nation and our government. That right was secured for them in 1775, 1812, 1865, and 1945 by men who knew they needed to answer the call to arms issued by the duly constituted authorities, not by demagogues and hate mongers. There will be no real heroes or patriots at Ft. Hunt today. There will be an abundance of demagogues, hate mongers, bullies, religious fanatics, and potential assassins and bombers.