Ludlow Massacre

From September, 1913 to December, 1914 over 1200 coal mine workers went on strike in an attempt to acquire safer working conditions.  Coal mines in Colorado in 1912 had a casualty rate that was double that of the national average.

Ruins of the Ludlow Colony near Trinidad, Colorado, following an attack by the Colorado
National Guard. Forms part of the George Grantham Bain Collection at the Library of Congress.
(Click to Enlarge)

Organized by the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), the strike was against Colorado mining companies; the three largest being the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company (CF&I), the Rocky Mountain Fuel Company (RMF), and the Victor-American Fuel Company (VAF).


On April 20th, 1914, mining camp guards and militia men opened fire on striking workers in their camp.  Between 19 and 26 people were murdered including several wives and children of mine workers.

Miners then armed themselves and attacked several dozen mines over the following ten days.  By the end of the violence nearly 200 people were dead.

Photo, Ludlow Tent Colony, prior to the Ludlow Massacre. Caption reads: "THE COLORADO TENT COLONY SHOT UP BY THE MILITIA, Ludlow, a canvas community of 900 souls, was riddled with machine guns shooting 400 bullets a minute. Then the tents were burned. The site is private property leased by the miners' union, which has supported the colony seven months."
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Colorado National Guard members preparing to enter the mining colony.
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The owner of CF&I, John D. Rockefeller was largely blamed for the conditions leading to the strike as well as for initiating the massacre against the mine workers.

Monument which currently memorializes the
site of the massacre.
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The workers were demanding an 8 hour workday, pay for "dead work" (anything not involving removing coal from the ground), recognition of the union as a bargaining agent, adherence to Colorado labor laws, pay for 2000 lb tons rather than long tons, discontinuing the use of scrip as means of payment, the right to choose their own doctors and to use any store, and the abolition of company camp guards.

The National Guard of Colorado was deployed by governor Elias Ammons.  At first this did much to quell the tension of the strike, but soon the guardsman began to sympathize with the company management and camp guards.

The union which acquired and distributed weapons to the striking workers in order to enable the ten day retaliation eventually ran out of money and called off the strike.

The workers never did get any of their demands met.  The strike ended when President Woodrow Wilson sent in federal troops to disarm both sides and help escort non-union workers to replace the striking miners.









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Howard Zinn: Zinn Education Project

The Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King

From The Free Thought Project

FBI & Memphis Police Have Admitted Their Role in the Assassination of Dr. King

Andrew Emett January 16, 2017 

Nearly 50 years since the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the FBI and Memphis Police Department have sparingly released information implicating themselves or members of their agencies in facilitating and directly causing the untimely death of Dr. King. Although the Justice Department officially claims James Earl Ray assassinated MLK, a civil suit later determined that a Memphis cop was involved in a conspiracy to murder the civil rights leader.

During a rainstorm on February 1, 1968, two black sanitation workers in Memphis lost their lives when the truck’s compactor accidentally triggered. On that same day, 22 black sewer workers were sent home without pay while their white coworkers received compensation. Less than two weeks later, over a thousand black sanitation workers went on strike wearing placards reading, “I AM A MAN.”

On March 18, 1968, Dr. King spoke at a rally in Memphis promising to lead a march later in the month supporting the striking sanitation workers. According to the House Select Committee on Assassinations, a black civil rights group named the Invaders sabotaged the March 28 demonstration by distributing hundreds of two by two sticks attached to placards into the hands of impressionable black children caught breaking store windows. The Invaders allegedly incited violence against Dr. King’s orders of peaceful resistance.

Because of the violence perpetrated during the March 28 demonstration, the city of Memphis filed a formal complaint against Dr. King and his associates within the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). On the last day of his life, Dr. King spent most of his time with Dr. Ralph Abernathy of the SCLC. While Rev. Andrew “Andy” Young of the SCLC had convinced U.S. District Court Judge Bailey Brown to allow Dr. King to organize a peaceful march scheduled for April 8, Dr. King was preparing for dinner with Rev. Samuel “Billy” Kyles.

READ MORE:  Putin Calls Out Assassination of Ambassador as 'Clearly Provocative' to 'Undermine Peace in Syria

On April 4, 1968, Dr. King’s Memphis PD security detail had been withdrawn, a black Memphis PD detective posted near the Lorraine Motel had been removed, and two black firemen in a station near the Lorraine Motel were transferred shortly before the assassination. Former Memphis PD Detective Jerry Williams had been assigned to Dr. King’s security detail twice before his final visit in 1968. Det. Williams asserted on Dr. King’s final visit that no black officers had been assigned to his security detail. The day before Dr. King’s death, Inspector Don H. Smith requested to remove his detail. The request was granted.

Accounts differ regarding Dr. King’s final words. According to FBI documents, Dr. King was discussing the weather with his chauffeur, Solomon Jones Jr., when the fatal shot struck. Rev. Jesse Jackson instead recalls Dr. King chastising him for not wearing a tie. Dr. King then turned to musician Ben Branch, who was standing beside Jackson, and said, “Make sure you play ‘Take My Hand, Precious Lord.’ Play it real pretty.” According to Jackson, those were his final words.is set to five minutes to midnight in response to North Korea nuclear testing.

Since revealing its illegal COINTELPRO harassment of Dr. King and the existence of at least 5 paid informants who reported to their Memphis Field Office, the FBI also disclosed that Dr. King’s trusted friend and renowned photographer, Ernest Withers, had been secretly working as an FBI informant. In addition to the FBI informants, a black undercover Memphis PD officer named Marrell McCollough had infiltrated the Invaders in 1968. McCollough stood in the parking lot of the Lorraine Motel on the night Dr. King died. He claimed to have been the first person to reach the body.

READ MORE:  Same Judge who Covered Up CIA Torture Dismisses Suit Against NSA Surveillance 

Although the Invaders had been removed from the Lorraine Motel a few hours earlier, undercover MPD officer Marrell McCollough remained on the premises until Dr. King’s death. McCollough claimed he spent the day shopping with Rev. James Bevel and Rev. James Orange of the SCLC. Standing in the parking lot of the Lorraine Motel, McCollough witnessed Dr. King’s assassination then ran up the stairs to view the body. ABC News confirmed McCollough went on to join the CIA, and he later testified on March 12, 1978, to the House Select Committee on Assassinations.

While recalling Dr. King’s final moments, Rev. Billy Kyles who was standing beside Dr. King on the balcony admitted decades later, “Only as I moved away so he could have a clear shot, the shot rang out.” Kyles has denied working as an FBI informant, even though he was accused of being a confidential Memphis PD informant.

In 1999, civil trial King v. Jowers determined former Memphis PD officer Loyd Jowers had been complicit in a conspiracy to assassinate Dr. King. In December 1993, Jowers appeared on ABC’s Prime Time Live confessing to his participation in Dr. King’s assassination. Jowers admitted he believed MPD Lt. Earl Clark fired the shot that killed Dr. King, not James Earl Ray. Although the U.S. government claims that Jowers fabricated his allegations, they have also admitted responsibility in attempting to ruin Dr. King’s marriage and persuading him to commit suicide.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/fbi-memphis-polices-admitted-involvement-assassination-mlk/#TFWMQDqLc4kac9bS.99

Rwandan Genocide

In 1994 Hutu rulers managed to slaughter somewhere between 500,000 and 1,000,000 of their fellow Rwandans who were of the Tutsi persuasion in only 100 days.  This eliminated approximately 20% of the Rwandan population and 70% of the Tutsi population minority.

The Tutsi held power for centuries before Rwanda became colonized by Germany then Belgium after Germany lost WWI.

 The Catholic Church, wishing to convert the country to Catholicism developed a strategy to target the ruling elite Tutsi for conversion.  The Tutsi did not take well to converting but tolerated the Church due to the positive financial influence the provided to the country.  The Church wished to avoid conflict so they made sure to appease the ruling class.  

A Rwandan refugee girl stares at a mass grave where dozens of bodies have
been laid to rest July 20, 1994. Rwandan refugees who escaped from fighting
between government troops and RPF rebels are dying by the hundreds of
dehydration, lack of food and cholera.

The Hutu were more susceptible to conversion and because of this Rwanda became one of the most Christian regions in all of Africa.

Eventually, the Catholic Church, growing tired of failing at converting the Tutsi, began to back the Hutu population and began leading them to what was ultimately a successful revolution against the ruling Tutsi elite. 

The civil war that followed ultimately lead to the largely Christian Hutu population conducting an extermination campaign against the Tutsi.  

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Learn More: 
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United to End Genocide:  Rwanda
Rwanda Genocide Timeline: About Education

The Cambodian Genocide

In just four years of rule, from 1975 to 1979, the Khmer Rouge administration managed to leave behind over 20,000 mass graves where at least 1.5 million and as many as 3 million people were buried after being murdered by their own government. 

While this was going on, most of the world was caught up in the "energy crisis", Middle East wars, Vietnam, and other events.  During the slaughter of 2-3 million innocent people by their own government, nobody knew and nobody cared.

Those Cambodians who managed to escape and make their way to the United States were maligned and discriminated against as "gooks" or "boat people" along with the Vietnamese.  

Cambodian refugee children, who fled with their families
after Khmer Rouge raids, wait for food at aid station outside of
Phnom Penh in 1975. (AP Photo/Tea Kim Heang aka Moonface)

Under the rule of Pol Pot, the Communist Khmer Rouge government led a brutal assault on their own countrymen using forced relocation, systematic execution, and starvation to exterminate educated people, intellectuals, Muslims, Vietnamese, Chinese, Thai, and anyone else who had the potential to be anti-communist (whether they were or not).

With the stated goal of nationalizing agriculture the government instituted a policy in which everyone must work for the newly-federated farms that were seized from the people.  Anyone who refused or opposed this system was eliminated.  Educated people (from college students or graduates to anyone who wore glasses) was deemed to be in opposition to this agricultural system as were many others.  Professionals, lawyers, doctors, and other "white collar" workers fell into this class as well.  These people posed a threat to the system and were systematically eliminated.

Other victims included those who were of undesirable "races" which included Vietnamese, Chinese, Thai and Cambodians who had mixed lineages.  

A large percentage of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge soldiers were
children.  Sayon Soeun, pictured here holding an M16-A1
taken from government forces, learned to kill at the age of 6.

Young victims of Pol Pot before they were tortured and executed.

Learn More: 

Wikipedia

The Cambodian Genocide: United to End Genocide

Why the world should not forget Khmer Rouge and the killing fields of Cambodia

Cambodian Genocide: World Without Genocide

Cambodia 1975: Peace Pledge Union

The Armenian Genocide

Beginning on or about April 24, 1915, the Ottoman Empire began the systematic extermination of approximately 1,500,000 humans, most of whom were so-called "citizens" of the Ottoman Empire.

Though, it's known as the Armenian Genocide or Armenian Holocaust, this atrocity falls under the newer and more descriptive term "democide", which is used to denote genocides committed by government against "their own" people.

Turkish official teases starving children by taunting them with bread.
(Click to Enlarge)

Christian Armenian women crucified in 1915 

Learn more:
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History.com
Armenian Genocide Museum