Echoes of Andersonville
The Confederate Andersonville POW Camp in 1864
During the United States Civil War’s last years, the prisoner-of-war (POW) facility, Camp Sumter – also known as Andersonville – opened following the Union Army’s advance against Richmond; POW atrocities documented by the National Parks Service. Andersonville’s commander, Captain Henry Wirz, was tried in the fall of 1865 for conspiracy to kill or injure prisoners in violation of the laws of war. Wirz described himself as “… the tool in the hands of [his]superiors”. Wirz was found convicted of conspiracy and murder and was hanged on November 10, 1985.
Andersonville POW Camp, SE View
During the Revolutionary War, the British used old transports, such as the Whitby and the Jersey to imprison captured seamen and other Colonist fighters. The inhuman living conditions these early Americans were forced to suffer were reminders of how some treat those who they disagree with.
There was an 8/11/2023 appeal on social media from a couple whose son was imprisoned for the January 6th (J6), 2021 event. Their son was indicted – not convicted – of six charges from J6. He called his parents every day but hasn’t been heard from since 8/11/23. The parents couldn’t get information from anyone concerning his health or wellbeing. Would the J6 jailors ignore these parents? If so, why?
Unfortunately, some reactions didn’t surprise. Responses, like, “Your son gets what he deserves, blah-did-ee-blah-blah (more ignorant blathering),” populated the social media COMMENT sections from those who don’t know the issues but ignorantly commented anyway. Regarding the adage: “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt,” they chose the latter.
Where are the prisoners? Why are some held without trial? Was writ of habeas corpus suspended? By whom? If it has, why? How are J6 prisoners treated? Are J6 families treated with respect? Several members of Congress visited the J6 prisoners and reported horrendous conditions; the prisoners’ rights trampled regularly at their jailors’ discretion. Prisoners are allegedly abused, like being doused with pepper spray for no reason. Is this true? Why mistreat anyone in this way? This is reminiscent of the Whitby or Andersonville.
Didn’t President Lincoln suspend writ of habeas corpus? Yes. Franklin Roosevelt suspended rights when he imprisoned Japanese Americans during World War II. Lincoln and Roosevelt employed these tactics during actual wartime, to protect (?) the nation. Why are Americans imprisoned without trial … during peace time?
“In our present differences, is either party without faith of being in the right?” A. Lincoln.
What about the J6 hearings? Why didn’t the J6 committee archive interviews and depositions? Why did they allow evidence to be destroyed? For those of us who’ve endured government hearings firsthand, how we view the J6 committee’s conduct differs from what the public sees. The public is allowed to see bureaucrats making points, embarrassing individuals, prattling on. But do they ever do anything? The media uses adjectives, like: this one ‘crushed’ or ‘slammed’ that one, but … did they? Transportation hearings are supposed to be about safety, but instead bureaucrats deliver ‘gotcha’ questions and grammar school logic. Committee hearings are intended to be about the truth and fixing failures. Instead, they’re about agendas, political posturing, bringing questionable witnesses and vitriolic insults. The gratuitous destruction of citizen’s lives and livelihoods is unprofessional and unethical. With the J6 committee, that’s what happened. Blameless (innocent … until proven guilty) citizens were destroyed by political agendas; imprisoned for being at the Capitol, like Doctor Simone Gold, arrested and imprisoned for just being on the Capitol grounds. None of it makes sense.
“To take away a neighbor’s living is to murder him; to deprive an employee of his wages is to shed blood.” Sirach 34: 21-22
Do we really know what happened that day? Was the Capitol on fire? Were representatives attacked or paraded around blindfolded to mock them? Were businesses destroyed? Were business owners beaten defending their stores? Were retired police officers shot to death defending a friend’s business? Were journalists threatened? These violent actions all happened during the ‘Summer of 2020’ riots. If we, in our own separate industries, don’t think actions of the J6 committee don’t affect us, we’re wrong.
My sons and I visited many Civil War and Revolutionary War battlefield parks in Massachusetts, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee. The battles are represented in paintings, flags in display cases. Truth is enemy flags don’t resemble the American Flag, the Star and Stripes. They don’t resemble American flags flown by the United States military. But on January 6th, flags held aloft, waving up high, were American Flags; thirteen red and white stripes and fifty stars on a square field of blue. This flag is hard to miss, hard to fake. It is waved by those who fight for the nation – not against the nation.
Lots of American Flags being Waved on January 6th
Did the January 6th demonstration look like the ‘Summer of 2020’ riots’ with the politician-approved burning of cities, like Minneapolis, Manhattan, Chicago? Was destruction of public property, like police stations and government buildings, during the ‘Summer of 2020’ riots, somehow, okay? Did J6 demonstrators wear masks at the Capitol to conceal demonstrators’ identities? Did J6 demonstration death counts, and small business losses equal the chaos of the ‘Summer of 2020’ riots?
A Minneapolis Police Station burns during the Summer of 2020 Riots
Adolf Eichmann, the ‘Architect of the Holocaust’, once said, “Now that I look back, I realize that a life predicated on being obedient and taking orders is a very comfortable life indeed. Living in such a way reduces to a minimum one’s need to think.” No one’s calling anyone a nazi; remember “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” (Matthew 7:1). But there’s disturbing truth in Eichmann’s cowardly excuses, that those who commit atrocities in the name of ‘following orders’ feel they are immune to the backlash of their actions; that those who destroy others by ‘following orders’ are somehow immune to criticism and forego judgment because it wasn’t their fault, that the ‘good soldier’ doesn’t think; doesn’t have to. They expect others to tell them what to do for their lives, for their futures, for their souls. They hold no free will.
New York City BLM Riots
Rosanne Boyland
How violent did the demonstration turn? Who died? No Capitol police were killed. Benjamin Philips and Kevin Greeson, both Trump supporters, died from medical emergencies. Unlike the ‘Summer of 2020’, no former law enforcement officials were killed in the event. Who, then, died at the Capitol to match the ferocity of the ‘Summer of 2020’ riots? Two women demonstrators were killed – not injured or hospitalized. Videos show they were killed with what appears to be extreme prejudice. Rosanne Boyland was trampled before a Capitol official beat her with a stick while she lay unconscious. How did politicians approve this use of excessive force, but the same politicians denounced George Floyd’s death?
Ashli Babbitt after receiving mortal gunshot wound
The second demonstrator fatality, Ashli Babbitt, was shot to death by a Capitol official firing into the crowd. Ms. Babbitt wasn’t armed. Recently released videos suggest Ms. Babbitt was trying to stop other demonstrators, not incite them. Whose orders did the Capitol official follow? How did politicians approve this use of excessive force, but the same politicians denounced Michael Brown’s death? Eichmann’s words about following orders rang true, “Living in such a way reduces to a minimum one’s need to think.”
During the months following the 9/11 attacks I worked at Ground Zero, Staten Island, the Pentagon and Shanksville, PA. Any person who likens the January 6th demonstrations to 9/11 is an Idiot. In those days we were tragically reminded that we have a common thread that went through each of us: the Chorus of the Union. After 9/11, Americans were more than united to help the widows and orphans, we were united against a common threat.
Today we’re not united. We’re a divided union facing an enemy more dangerous than the Taliban ever was; more unpredictable than a suicide bomber; more extreme than any act of radical terrorism. The threat lives among us, in families, in friends, in businesses, and most importantly, in control.
Before the Civil War began, Abraham Lincoln stated, “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”
We must not forget.