John Brown Goes to Wall Street?
November 13, 2010
There are many who think Americans will never take up arms against their oppressors, and that tarring-and-feathering will remain a figure of speech. Do people who doubt a revolution is possible study history - or even listen to the Rolling Stones?
There are many who claim that violence against Wall Street would be immoral. How quickly Americans have forgotten that the United States was founded after a violent revolution, and was united after a violent civil war.
The Civil War was precipitated by John Brown, who took up arms against Kansas slave owners:
John Brown was an American abolitionist, who advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to end all slavery. He led the Pottawatomie Massacre in 1856 in Bleeding Kansas and made his name in the unsuccessful raid at Harpers Ferry in 1859.
John Brown's attempt in 1859 to start a liberation movement among enslaved African Americans in Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia) electrified the nation. He was tried for treason against the state of Virginia, the murder of five proslavery Southerners, and inciting a slave insurrection and was subsequently hanged. Southerners alleged that his rebellion was the tip of the abolitionist iceberg and represented the wishes of the Republican Party. Historians agree that the Harpers Ferry raid in 1859 escalated tensions that, a year later, led to secession and the American Civil War.
"John Brown began the war that ended American slavery and made this a free Republic. His zeal in the cause of freedom was infinitely superior to mine. Mine was as the taper light; his was as the burning sun. I could live for the slave; John Brown could die for him." -- Frederick Douglas.
Wall Street has stolen trillions from American citizens, turning taxpayers into debt slaves. The government, rather than prosecute the thieves, has declared that Wall Street is above the law. Wall Street operates outside of the law and outside of morality.
What would happen if John Brown led a revolt on Wall Street? Whose side would you be on?
The media would attempt to shame Americans into hating John Brown. It would fail, as the Joe Stack's coverage showed. (You'd almost forgotten about Joe Stack, hadn't you? Isn't is interesting that the media dropped the story just as Americans collectively said, "While I'd never do that, I can understand why he did it...") After realizing that Americans were siding with Joe Stacks, the corporate-controlled media dropped the story.
It's time to re-read American history. America wasn't founded by apologists for the power elite. Nor will America be saved by today's apologists.
A John Brown will march to Wall Street - which means that today is the day to start asking yourself: Whose side are you on, anyway?