History does repeat itself. We see that the same ethnocentrism and bigotry released in 1991 during the Gulf War was repeated in 2003 with the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq by the U.S. However, there are more precedents from antiquity that mirror those actions.
William Apess was a Native-American author and activist for Native causes. In 1836, he gave a speech in Boston to the descendents of the Pilgrims who had decimated the once-proud Wampanoag Indian tribe of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. His speech was not an attempt at diplomacy; Apess gave the citizens an historical look back at the 17th century and his message was that the current American population should take note of the atrocities and not let them ever happen again. The presentation was called "Eulogy on King Philip."
The Wampanoag tribe consisted of more than 30,000 people when the Pilgrims first landed in Massachusetts. They had advanced societies and government. After a devastating winter in which many of the former Brits died, the Wampanoags, whose chief was Massasoit, aided the survivors by gathering food and helping the Pilgrims settle into their new land. They taught the newcomers hunting techniques and showed them the best areas to acquire food. Then, the chief gave them much land on which to live that was once part of the Wampanoag empire.
After a few years, the Pilgrims and their descendents, the Puritans, began taking land that did not belong to them. By then, Massasoit had died and his son Metacomet (named King Philip by the Anglos) was the chief.
Philip tried to deal with the Puritans in an honorable way, but to no avail. They took land from the Wampnoags and ruthlessly beat and killed the Indians if they got in the way. The Indians were becoming slaves on their own land; land that was decreasing in size all the time.
The tribe did not want war, but it was forced on them, much like the two U.S. wars against Iraq. Philip then began the first resistance battle on U.S. soil. The similarities are intriguing.
In Desert Storm, we saw thousands of dead Iraqis on the "Highway to Hell," and similar scenes were shown in 2003 while American troops were marching toward Baghdad; bodies piled up on top of each other with insects attacking the corpses. In describing the plight of Native Americans centuries ago, Apess wrote:
It is, however, true that there are many who are said to be honorable warriors, who, in the wisdom of their civilized legislation, think it no crime to wreak their vengeance upon whole nations and communities, until the fields are covered with blood and the rivers turned into purple fountains, while groans like distant thunder, are heard from the wounded and tens of thousands of the dying, leaving helpless families depending on their cares and sympathies for life; while a loud response is heard floating through the air from the ten thousand Indian children and orphans …
And do you believe that Indians cannot feel and see, as well as white people? If you think so, you are mistaken. Their power of feeling and knowing is as quick as yours.
Substitute the word "Iraqi" for Indian in the above and the similarities are evident. Prior to the hostilities of 1675, the Wampanoags, just like the Iraqis, were forced to disarm. King Philip complained to the Pilgrims that they were ruining the fields of his people. He took his case to the court of the foreigners. According to Apess:
Philip’s complaint was that the Pilgrims had injured the planting grounds of his people. The Pilgrims, acting as umpires, say the charge against them was not sustained; and because it was not, to their satisfaction, the whites wanted that Philip should order his men to bring in his arms and ammunition and the court was to dispose of them as they pleased.
The above is almost identical to Iraq’s complaining of Kuwait stealing its oil and the U.N. ordering Iraq to disarm. A future lesson can be learned when powerful nations persuade or force the weaker to disarm: when this happens, the strong countries, always talking peace, strike. The reason for the 2003 invasion of Iraq was not that it had nuclear weapons, but because it did NOT have them.
After a two-year war, the Wampanoag tribe was slaughtered. At first, the Indians were dominating, but they ran out of food. By the end of the conflict, only about 3,000 Wampanoags were left and most became servants for the white population.
Philip was killed and his body parts were taken all over the area and put on display. A Native American sold out and told the Pilgrims where Philip was located. Apess explained:
Treachery, however, hastened his ruin; one of his men, by hope of reward from the deceptive Pilgrims, betrayed his country into their hands.
The methods of finding and killing Philip were almost identical to those used in the murder of Uday and Qusay Hussein. A Hussein distant-family member told the Americans where they were staying. After killing the two, the U.S. then displayed their shot-up bodies to the world. Almost four centuries lay between the two incidents, yet the same method of capture (treason) and the gory exhibit of bodies are used today to depict "victory." And, the same reason, bigotry, was the fuel that fired the ire of the Americans to destroy the dark-skinned enemy in Massachusetts and in Iraq.
The resistance in 1675 by King Philip and the resistance by today’s patriotic Iraqis stem from the same sickness: hatred. William Apess set the record straight, albeit almost two centuries after the slaughter of the Wampanoag tribe. He turned the tables and spoke the truth about who were the heroes and who were the villains. Until his speech, the U.S. public considered Philip to be the aggressor and the Puritans the aggrieved. I certainly hope a future William Apess will appear and give the same eloquent and precise accounting for the U.S. aggression against Iraq.
Malcom Lagauche Sunday/Monday, March 13-14, 2004
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