Trayvon Martin, a Man of His Time: White Supremacy and the Murders of Young People of Color
Dedicated to the memory of the recently departed Joel Olson, an ally in the fight against white supremacy.
Once again, the US black community is up in (figurative) arms about systemic white supremacy raising up (literal) arms. Once again, white America is faced with what philosopher Charles Mills called the "preoccupation of nonwhite moral and political thought with issues of race, puzzling alike to a white liberalism predicated on colorless atomic individuals and a white Marxism predicated on colorless classes in struggle." What indeed is the focus on race? Part of this puzzle's solution - and part of stopping such killings in the future - lies in understanding Trayvon Martin as a man of his time.
American society explains away and apologizes for indefensible behavior by prominent historical figures by labeling them "men of their time." Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, for example, are defined in American discourse by their political writings, military leadership and presidential policies. Their humanity becomes universal, while their inhumanity - African slavery and Indian removal most prominently - is fixed in the past, unrelated to the systems of the present. We call them "men of their time" because we understand society to have been sympathetic to or supportive of their actions. But slaves were always opposed to slavery. Indian tribes were always opposed to removal. Were they not also women and men of their time? Why doesn't their opposition matter in white America's narrative?
If Washington, Jefferson and Jackson can be exculpated by calling them "men of their time," it is only because their victims are not considered men or women of any time. They are not considered men or women at all; they are subhuman. This dehumanization also becomes universal. The slave and settler society narrative did not end with the 13th Amendment, it continues to present them as dehumanized, non-individuals. African slaves are still not seen as "of their time."
Our understanding of slave owners and Indian killers as "men of their time" is actually a misunderstanding perpetuated because their victims are barred from being "men of any time." Systemic white supremacy distorts the way we see the world, including how we misunderstand the killings of Trayvon Martin, Michael Haynes, Jasmine Thar, and others. The misunderstanding becomes apparent if we listen to the narratives of those systematically dehumanized, those denied the chance to be men and women of their time. For example, the narrative of white supremacist policing and vigilantism has long been common in the black community, most prominently in low-income areas. White America, however, tends to hear this narrative, if hearing it at all, as episodic - a few bad apples rather than a systemic problem.
The 1991 beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles was hideous, but not terribly uncommon. Its capture on video, however, was expected to be a watershed moment. This was proof of the narrative of systemic police brutality! With video evidence, how could it be denied? But it was. King's attackers weren't, in the end, even punished as individual bad apples, much less as representatives of a systemic problem. King, too, was not a man of his time.
A Way Forward
Jefferson was indeed a man of his time, but more importantly, James and Sally Hemings were men and women of theirs. Until we can acquaint ourselves with this history, what Walter Benjamin called "the tradition of the oppressed," we will continue to misunderstand the world that white supremacy has created. The crude racism of police profiling, the (supposedly anachronistic) neo-Nazi and Ku Klux Klan marches and the beatings and killings of people of color by the police and others astonish white America; each are misunderstood as an ugly blight on our (meaning white America's) otherwise just system.
That now, in 21st century America, people are persecuted and killed due to white supremacy (a term more accurate and descriptive than "structural racism") is only astonishing because our conception of history leaves out systemic white supremacy altogether. The conception of history that allows us to see King's attackers as "bad apples," Jefferson's slave owning as fixed in the past and his political writings relevant to the present and Martin's murder as a tragic incident instead of evidence of a white supremacist society, must be discarded. Those victimized by this system must be humanized as men and women of their time. The ongoing dehumanization of Nittakechi, Deborah Squash, Tsiyu Gansini, Oney Judge, and other enslaved Africans and removed Indians is part of the same system that labels a young black man wearing a hoodie as suspicious, threatening and subhuman.
The Million Hoodie march protests are trying to tell white America that, not only is there nothing wrong with being young, black and putting your hood up, but under each hood is a right human, a man or woman of their time. Are we, white America, listening? If we are, we'll learn that Washington, Jefferson and Jackson's African slavery and Indian removal policies are at least as important as their other political work, and that their lionization on currency is horrifying. We will learn that police brutality and racial profiling against communities of color are not episodic, but systemic. We will learn that Martin was a man of his time, and perhaps, by recognizing his humanity, our children and grandchildren won't have to apologize for our actions, claiming our decency against the evidence while sheepishly defending us as "men of our time." http://truth-out.org/news/item/9122-tray...ite-people
Wow what a tough guy addressing 'white supremacy'. While I despise white supremacy and find that most are low iq idiots, why doesn't this guy take on the bigger issue which is jewish supremacy? White supremacy is not a problem in the US. In fact most white males and whites in general have been beaten down for so long for being 'white' to the point where most feel guilty about things they had nothing to do with. And truth be known, black on white crime is far worse than white on black crime if we are going to make this about race. The jewish media is making the biggest deal out of this and once again, the enemy of the jews tends to be the european races because they have caused them the most fits historically.
I agree with one thing: supremacy of any kind should be eradicated. I have no use for supremacists whether they are so called "God's chosen people" or self proclaimed 'chosen race' in general. I'm a blonde haired green eyed American but could give a shit about my color. Supremacism is a huge problem but it must be dealt with acrossed the board and I would put a much higher priority on jewish supremacism than I would white supremacism...
(05-16-2012 01:37 PM)April Wrote: [ -> ]Or maybe it stems from everyday life in certain areas of the states ? ? ?
I don't know why it irritates some people when you post articles like this mex….
Good read… carry on.
because they are in DENIAL!!! Not until it comes around the corner, do they start bitching... like some dominant culture ones that have lost their yobs are doing... some are just back yard barbecue sun tanners and others are just plain racists. this race so called race thing, color and Indigenous Persons live it everyday on the streets of Racial Babylonian Sick and twisted minds. But we are warriors and know the difference between slavery and the illusion of freedom! Hoka hey!!
(05-16-2012 04:10 PM)rockclimber Wrote: [ -> ]Wow what a tough guy addressing 'white supremacy'. While I despise white supremacy and find that most are low iq idiots, why doesn't this guy take on the bigger issue which is jewish supremacy? White supremacy is not a problem in the US. In fact most white males and whites in general have been beaten down for so long for being 'white' to the point where most feel guilty about things they had nothing to do with. And truth be known, black on white crime is far worse than white on black crime if we are going to make this about race. The jewish media is making the biggest deal out of this and once again, the enemy of the jews tends to be the european races because they have caused them the most fits historically.
I agree with one thing: supremacy of any kind should be eradicated. I have no use for supremacists whether they are so called "God's chosen people" or self proclaimed 'chosen race' in general. I'm a blonde haired green eyed American but could give a shit about my color. Supremacism is a huge problem but it must be dealt with acrossed the board and I would put a much higher priority on jewish supremacism than I would white supremacism...
Racism is racism bro and Oppression is oppression!
(05-16-2012 02:43 AM)yeti Wrote: [ -> ]I'm so glad I'm not a USAnian who can't stop thinking about race.
its all about race, economics, politics in Americon Babylon. Its always that, and the system uses some of these whites for its game play. If you live in a country whose origins were about white supremacy or supremacy or manifest destiny determined by a white heaven, white god, white Jesus Christ..... get the point? In America, that is a freaking sickness... and some some people live it every single day of their lives... believe or not my friend... thats how Americas immoral diseased behavior and it can be contiguous. Personally, I'm not a racist for pointing out racism, all I am doing is pointing it out and it does not mean that it does not exist, like a conspiracy theory, you know ;>...in Plain Sight and their are targets and their are racists terrorists in America.
(05-16-2012 04:10 PM)rockclimber Wrote: [ -> ]Wow what a tough guy addressing 'white supremacy'. While I despise white supremacy and find that most are low iq idiots, why doesn't this guy take on the bigger issue which is jewish supremacy? White supremacy is not a problem in the US. In fact most white males and whites in general have been beaten down for so long for being 'white' to the point where most feel guilty about things they had nothing to do with. And truth be known, black on white crime is far worse than white on black crime if we are going to make this about race. The jewish media is making the biggest deal out of this and once again, the enemy of the jews tends to be the european races because they have caused them the most fits historically.
I agree with one thing: supremacy of any kind should be eradicated. I have no use for supremacists whether they are so called "God's chosen people" or self proclaimed 'chosen race' in general. I'm a blonde haired green eyed American but could give a shit about my color. Supremacism is a huge problem but it must be dealt with acrossed the board and I would put a much higher priority on jewish supremacism than I would white supremacism...
Tough Guy? that has nothing to do within being tough or a guy, what the heck. Unless you feel that it should not be challenged or pointed out or to bow down to a sickness or diseased mentality of monsters, you sometimes can't find the words to express this crap.. Its not about being tough or anything, its reality for some and some of us will challenge it, white or not. WHITE IS NOTHING SPECIAL AS JEWS ARE NOTHING SPECIAL - ALL PEOPLE ARE SPECIAL - BUT SOME PEOPLE CARRY A DISEASE and in order to deal with it, it must be exposed in plain view for consciousness to see and for the monsters to grow up
If you are coming from the perspective of the "Tough Guy" by challening white supreamcy, then I'm all for it - I WILL CHALLENGE IT ANYWHERE AND IF YOU ARE A WHITE SO CALLED WHITE TRASH - I WILL CHALLENGE YOU, AS A DISEASED MONSTER AND NOT AS A HUMAN BEING, this all being equal to racists Jews as well since I've dealt with their filth and their saintly attitude of a good Jew and the classified chosen people ordained by some sick and twisted supreme aura, what a show.....
(05-16-2012 04:40 PM)mexika Wrote: [ -> ]its all about race, economics, politics in Americon Babylon. Its always that, and the system uses some of these whites for its game play. If you live in a country whose origins were about white supremacy or supremacy or manifest destiny determined by a white heaven, white god, white Jesus Christ..... get the point? In America, that is a freaking sickness... and some some people live it every single day of their lives... believe or not my friend... thats how Americas immoral diseased behavior and it can be contiguous. Personally, I'm not a racist for pointing out racism, all I am doing is pointing it out and it does not mean that it does not exist, like a conspiracy theory, you know ;>...in Plain Sight and their are targets and their are racists terrorists in America.
(05-16-2012 04:10 PM)rockclimber Wrote: [ -> ]Wow what a tough guy addressing 'white supremacy'. While I despise white supremacy and find that most are low iq idiots, why doesn't this guy take on the bigger issue which is jewish supremacy? White supremacy is not a problem in the US. In fact most white males and whites in general have been beaten down for so long for being 'white' to the point where most feel guilty about things they had nothing to do with. And truth be known, black on white crime is far worse than white on black crime if we are going to make this about race. The jewish media is making the biggest deal out of this and once again, the enemy of the jews tends to be the european races because they have caused them the most fits historically.
I agree with one thing: supremacy of any kind should be eradicated. I have no use for supremacists whether they are so called "God's chosen people" or self proclaimed 'chosen race' in general. I'm a blonde haired green eyed American but could give a shit about my color. Supremacism is a huge problem but it must be dealt with acrossed the board and I would put a much higher priority on jewish supremacism than I would white supremacism...
Tough Guy? that has nothing to do within being tough or a guy, what the heck. Unless you feel that it should not be challenged or pointed out or to bow down to a sickness or diseased mentality of monsters, you sometimes can't find the words to express this crap.. Its not about being tough or anything, its reality for some and some of us will challenge it, white or not. WHITE IS NOTHING SPECIAL AS JEWS ARE NOTHING SPECIAL - ALL PEOPLE ARE SPECIAL - BUT SOME PEOPLE CARRY A DISEASE and in order to deal with it, it must be exposed in plain view for consciousness to see and for the monsters to grow up
If you are coming from the perspective of the "Tough Guy" by challening white supreamcy, then I'm all for it - I WILL CHALLENGE IT ANYWHERE AND IF YOU ARE A WHITE SO CALLED WHITE TRASH - I WILL CHALLENGE YOU, AS A DISEASED MONSTER AND NOT AS A HUMAN BEING, this all being equal to racists Jews as well since I've dealt with their filth and their saintly attitude of a good Jew and the classified chosen people ordained by some sick and twisted supreme aura, what a show.....
I agree all people are special but no one people think they are more special than the Jewish supremacists. White supremacy is non-existent in the US. Most white people in this country-and I associate them on a daily basis, do not have an air of supremacy. If your talking about the Stormfront supremacists their numbers are small and they are considered to be a joke and are completely marginalized. The supremacist Jews in this country are worshipped for their movies and abilities to make money and are at the root of many of the problems we face in this country today. And then you have the moronic Zionist Christians who perpetuate the 'chosen people' myth. And spare me anyway, when you have groups like La Raza and other racists groups I only laugh at them. They are just tools in the scheme of things, useful idiots mostly.
In short I am all about pointing out white supremacy where it exists but Jewish supremacy is a much larger problem and few people in the mainstream will write about it. It's easy to bash white people all day long, in fact it's pretty trendy even amongst whites. But it a white dares to say anything bad about other races, well it's just racism to do that and you know it. I take every opportunity I have to expose jewish supremacy since most fear doing so. We must take on all these issues but I believe in prioritizing...
Tough Guy? that has nothing to do within being tough or a guy, what the heck. Unless you feel that it should not be challenged or pointed out or to bow down to a sickness or diseased mentality of monsters, you sometimes can't find the words to express this crap.. Its not about being tough or anything, its reality for some and some of us will challenge it, white or not. WHITE IS NOTHING SPECIAL AS JEWS ARE NOTHING SPECIAL - ALL PEOPLE ARE SPECIAL - BUT SOME PEOPLE CARRY A DISEASE and in order to deal with it, it must be exposed in plain view for
consciousness to see and for the monsters to grow up
If you are coming from the perspective of the "Tough Guy" by challening white supreamcy, then I'm all for it - I WILL CHALLENGE IT ANYWHERE AND IF YOU ARE A WHITE SO CALLED WHITE TRASH - I WILL CHALLENGE YOU, AS A DISEASED MONSTER AND NOT AS A HUMAN BEING, this all being equal to racists Jews as well since I've dealt with their filth and their saintly attitude of a good Jew and the classified chosen people ordained by some sick and twisted supreme aura, what a show.....
Let's tweak the color scheme on that little tirade a bit and see what we get:
MEXICA wrote:
consciousness to see and for the monsters to grow up
If you are coming from the perspective of the "Tough Guy" by challenging black supremacy, then I'm all for it - I WILL CHALLENGE IT ANYWHERE AND IF YOU ARE A BLACK SO CALLED BLACK TRASH - I WILL CHALLENGE YOU, AS A DISEASED MONSTER AND NOT AS A HUMAN BEING, this all being equal to racists Jews as well since I've dealt with their filth and their saintly attitude of a good Jew and the classified chosen people ordained by some sick and twisted supreme
consciousness to see and for the monsters to grow up
If you are coming from the perspective of the "Tough Guy" by challenging brown supremacy, then I'm all for it - I WILL CHALLENGE IT ANYWHERE AND IF YOU ARE A BROWN SO CALLED BROWN TRASH - I WILL CHALLENGE YOU, AS A DISEASED MONSTER AND NOT AS A HUMAN BEING, this all being equal to racists Jews as well since I've dealt with their filth and their saintly attitude of a good Jew and the classified chosen people ordained by some sick and twisted supreme
Ouch !! You don't sound like such a heroic crusader for humanity, now, do you MEXICA ? You sound like someone from Stormfront.
So, unless you are willing to call black trash, black trash and brown trash, brown trash, and every time you use the slur cracker or trailer-trash when referring to a white trash to also use nigger / jungle-bunny & spics / beaners when referring to black & brown trash or towel-head when referring to arab semites and kikes when referring to Jew trash, what possible justification can you have for your safe little, politically correct rant against 'diseased white trash' ?
Unfortunately reality does not correspond to your fantasies. All people are not special. First they have to be healthy. Some unfortunate people might be retarded or not healthy.
All relatively healthy human beings have SOME special talents if they decide to use them. That's why individual rights work to the benefit of a high-cultured civilization whereas group rights that try to force equality before the law usually fail because when you allow the individual human being the opportunity to use his or her own unequal talents without being equalized by the group's force, you create the only true MERITOCRACY possible. A meritocracy is eminently fair and is anything but 'dog-eat-dog.'
All relatively healthy human beings have SOME special talents if they decide to use them. That's why individual rights work whereas group rights that try to force equality before the law always fail because they let the individual have the opportunity to use their own unequal talents without being equalized by the group's force.
East Asians do better than Whites on IQ tests, Central Asians, South Americans, Mexicans and Blacks do worse, that's just a fact, DEAL WITH IT. You don't hear Whites crying about East Asian supremacy if an East Asian brings up those statistics do you ?
Blacks have produced some of the greatest saxophone and trumpet players who ever lived but they did not invent the trumpet or saxophone. Jews brought them over here on their slave-ships, and hundreds of years later, they used white-invented instruments to make great Jazz art that benefits humanity. They could not have done this in Africa because Africans did not have the trumpet or saxophone, they had pieces of wood they used to blow into.
The American Indians were warring tribes who used to constantly fight, loot and kill each other. They did not even have a concept of 'rights,' might-made-right, law of the jungle and that was it. So whites killing American Indians when American Indians attacked and scalped their families was really nothing all that special, it was just giving them back a taste of their own medicine. Do you really think that if the Indian tribes had had the upper hand they would not have wiped out most of the white immigrants ?
"German racialism has been deliberately distorted. It never was an anti-"other race" racialism. It was a pro-German racialism. It was concerned with making the German race strong and healthy in every way. Hitler was not interested in having millions of degenerates, if it was in his power not to have them. Today one finds rampant alcohol and drug addiction everywhere. Hitler cared that the German families be healthy, cared that they raise healthy children for the renewal of a healthy nation. German racialism meant re-discovering the creative values of their own race, re-discovering their culture. It was a search for excellence, a noble idea. National Socialist racialism was not against the other races, it was for its own race. It aimed at defending and improving its race, and wished that all other races did the same for themselves.
That was demonstrated when the Waffen SS enlarged its ranks to include 60,000 Islamic SS. The Waffen SS respected their way of fife, their customs, and their religious beliefs. Each Islamic SS battalion had an imam, each company had a mullah. It was our common wish that their qualities found their highest expression. This was our racialism. I was present when each of my Islamic comrades received a personal gift from Hitler during the new year. It was a pendant with a small Koran. Hitler was honoring them with this small symbolic gift. He was honoring them with what was the most important aspect of their lives and their history. National Socialist racialism was loyal to the German race and totally respected all other races."
General Léon Degrelle of the Waffen SS
Husseini Handschar Waffen SS
Waffen SS Handcshar Division Islamic troops firing an artillery piece.
Bosnian SS-volunteers during prayer (November 1943),
Quote:Haj Mohammed Effendi Amin el-Husseini (Arabic: محمد أمين الحسيني, Muhammad Amin al-Husayni;[1] born between 1895 and 1897;[2][3] died July 4, 1974) was a Palestinian Arab nationalist and Muslim leader in the British Mandate of Palestine. From as early as 1920, in order to secure the independence of Palestine as an Arab state he actively opposed Zionism, and was implicated as a leader of a violent riot that broke out over the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine.[4] From 1921 to 1937[5] al-Husseini was the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, using the position to promote Islam and rally Palestinian nationalism against Zionism.
His opposition to the British peaked during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine. In 1937, evading an arrest warrant, he fled Palestine and took refuge in, successively, the French Mandate of Lebanon and the Kingdom of Iraq, until he established himself in Italy and finally Germany. During World War II he actively collaborated with both Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, meeting Adolf Hitler personally and asking him to back Arab independence. He requested, as part of the Pan-Arab struggle, Hitler's support to oppose the establishment in Palestine of a Jewish national home. He was promised the leadership of the Arabs after German troops had driven out the British.[6] He helped recruit Muslims for the Waffen-SS. At war's end, he came under French protection, and managed to slip away to Cairo to avoid eventual prosecution.
During the 1948 Palestine War, Husseini represented the Arab Higher Committee and opposed both the 1947 UN Partition Plan and King Abdullah's entente with Zionists to annex the Arab part of British Mandatory Palestine to Jordan. In September 1948, he participated in establishment of All-Palestine Government. Seated in Egyptian ruled Gaza, this government won a limited recognition of Arab states, but was eventually dissolved by Gamal Nasser in 1959. After the war and subsequent Palestinian exodus, his claims to leadership, wholly discredited, left him eventually sidelined by the Palestine Liberation Organization, and he lost most of his residual political influence.[7] He died in Beirut, Lebanon, in July 1974. Husseini was and remains a highly controversial figure. Historians dispute whether his fierce opposition to Zionism was grounded in nationalism or antisemitism or a combination of both.
Quote:Jesse Owens, who died in 1980, was the son of sharecroppers and won four track and field gold medals - the 100m, the long jump, the 200m and the relay race - at Berlin.
He insisted that he had not been snubbed by Hitler . . .
"Jesse Owens later said he was treated better in Germany than in America where blacks faced segregation. "
Germany won by far the most medals: 89 total -- 33 gold, 26 Silver, 30 Bronze
The four times larger U.S. could manage only 56 medals, 24 gold, 20 Silver, 12 Bronze; of their 24 gold Jesse Owens won 4.
Yet, it seems like almost every 1936 Olympics related article since then has squeezed in the story of black American athlete Jesse Owens humiliating Hitler and Hitler snubbing him, something Jesse Owens himself denied.
The cover to a 1938 museum guide published to coincide with an exhibition on "degenerate art" organized by Dr. Hans Ziegler. The exhibition was divided into seven sections, each attacking a different artistic form; Igor Stravinsky and Paul Hindemith got sections to themselves
Stravinsky is my favorite composer and I like Hindemith also. Stravinsky actually supported Mussolini just like Ezra Pound but since Hitler and the NSDAP didn't like his music and called it degenerate he did not continue to support National Socialism
Quote:According to Robert Craft, Stravinsky remained a confirmed monarchist throughout his life and loathed the Bolsheviks from the very beginning.[49] In 1930, he remarked, "I don't believe that anyone venerates Mussolini more than I... I know many exalted personages, and my artist's mind does not shrink from political and social issues. Well, after having seen so many events and so many more or less representative men, I have an overpowering urge to render homage to your Duce. He is the saviour of Italy and – let us hope – Europe". Later, after a private audience with Mussolini, he added, "Unless my ears deceive me, the voice of Rome is the voice of Il Duce. I told him that I felt like a fascist myself... In spite of being extremely busy, Mussolini did me the great honour of conversing with me for three-quarters of an hour. We talked about music, art and politics".[50] When the Nazis placed Stravinsky's works on the list of "Entartete Musik", he lodged a formal appeal to establish his Russian genealogy and declared, "I loathe all communism, Marxism, the execrable Soviet monster, and also all liberalism, democratism, atheism, etc.."
The removal of the skin covering the top of a person head during or after a battle dates back to the Scythians (c. 400 BC). The Visigoths also took scalps during the wars with the Anglo-Saxons in the 9th century. When the Europeans first visited America they observed that the Huron, Chichimec, Iroquoi and Muskhogean tribes scalped enemy warriors. The Spanish administrator of Mexico, Francisco de Garay, reported in 1520 of seeing the "cutting of the skin off the entire head and face, with hair and beard". However, there is no evidence that the majority of Native American tribes at this time were involved in scalping.
In 1688, the French-Canadians began paying for every enemy scalp. This encouraged the emergence of groups trying to make a business out of scalping settlers. The British responded in 1693 by announcing that they would pay money for the scalps of Frenchmen and their Indian allies. As much as £100 was obtained for an important scalp.
the fiancée of a soldier serving with General Burgoyne's army, was captured by Indians allied to the British. Then during a dispute between two warriors, Jane was scalped. General Burgoyne did not punish the guilty men for fear of breaking the alliance with that tribe. This decision enraged local Americans and many men now joined in the struggle against the British. It was later claimed that the death of Jane McCrea greatly aided the rebel cause and contributed to the defeat of Burgoyne's army at Saratoga. The incident continued to be used as propaganda against the English and the story was immortalized by John Vanderlyn's painting, The Death of Jane McCrea, in 1804.
This policy of scalping spread to the Americans during the 19th century and they paid bounties for the scalps of troublesome tribes such as the Apache.
The scalp was usually taken from a dead enemy. Pierre Pouchot saw soldiers being scalped in about 1760: "As soon as the man is felled, they run up to him, thrust their knee in between his shoulder blades, seize a tuft of hair in one hand and, with their knife in the other, cut around the skin of the head and pull the whole piece away." Some warriors gained status by scalping a man during combat. This involved making a knife incision around the scalp lock and pulling the hair back very quickly. Although extremely painful, being scalped alive was not always fatal.
A full-scalping would often lead to serious medical complications. This included profuse bleeding, infection, and eventual death if the bone of the skull was left exposed. Death could also occur from septicemia, meningitis or necrosis of the skull.
The fashion of head shaving, except for a small lock of hair, on the crown of the head, developed amongst the Plains Indians.
This hair covered about two inches in diameter and therefore only a minor wound would result from being scalped. However, it was a great insult for a Native American to be scalped while still alive. For example, the Arikara tribe would treat a scalped warrior as an outcast.
Native American tribes used scalping to persuade Americans from abandoning the idea of taking their land. Nelson Lee was unlucky enough to captured by the Comanche tribe.
"During all the time they were thus exhibiting the result of their savage work, they resorted to every hideous device to inspire us with terror. They would rush toward us with uplifted tomahawks, stained with blood, as if determined to strike, or grasp us by the hair, flourishing their knives around our heads as though intending to take our scalps. So far as I could understand their infernal shouts and pantomime, they sought to tell us that the fate which had overtaken our unfortunate companions not only awaited us, but likewise the whole race of the hated white man. All the dead, without exception, were scalped and the scalps, still fresh, were dangling from their belts."
After the battle had finished the warrior would clean and dry the scalp. Thomas Gist witnessed this while he was being held prisoner. "The men began to scrape the flesh and blood from the scalps, and dry them by the fire, after which they dressed them with feathers and painted them, then tied them on white, red, and black poles".
"this horrible custom was practiced by these savages alone, and sprang from their own barbarism, for it seems never to have existed in any other nation, not even among nations, who, like them, have never received any idea of civilized life."2
"When a war party has captured one or more prisoners that cannot be taken away, it is the usual custom to kill them by breaking their heads with the blows of a tomahawk. When he has struck two or three blows, the savage quickly seizes his knife, and makes an incision around the hair from the upper part of the forehead to the back of the neck. Then he puts his foot on the shoulder of the victim, whom he has turned over face down, and pulls the hair off with both hands, from back to front... This hasty operation is no sooner finished than the savage fastens the scalp to his belt and goes on his way. This method is only used when the prisoner cannot follow his captor; or when the Indian is pursued... He quickly takes the scalp, gives the death cry, and flees at top speed. Savages always announce their valor by a death cry, when they have taken a scalp... When a savage has taken a scalp, and is not afraid he is being pursued, he stops and scrapes the skin to remove the blood and fibres on it. He makes a hoop of green wood, stretches the skin over it like a tambourine, and puts it in the sun to dry a little. The skin is painted red, and the hair on the outside combed. When prepared, the scalp is fastened to the end of a long stick, and carried on his shoulder in triumph to the village or place where he wants to put it. But as he nears each place on his way, he gives as many cries as he has scalps to announce his arrival and show his bravery. Sometimes as many as 15 scalps are fastened on the same stick. When there are too many for one stick, they decorate several sticks with the scalps."
(2) Thomas Gist, journal entry (14th September 14, 1758)
"The men began to scrape the flesh and blood from the scalps, and dry them by the fire, after which they dressed them with feathers and painted them, then tied them on white, red, and black poles, which they made so by pealing the bark and then painting them as it suited them."
(3) Pierre Pouchot, Memoirs on the Late War in North America Between France and England (1765)
"As soon as the man is felled, they run up to him, thrust their knee in between his shoulder blades, seize a tuft of hair in one hand and, with their knife in the other, cut around the skin of the head and pull the whole piece away. The whole thing is done very expeditiously. Then, brandishing the scalp, they utter a whoop which they call the 'death whoop'... If they are not under pressure and the victory has cost them lives, they behave in an extremely cruel manner towards those they kill or the dead bodies. They disembowel them and smear their blood all over themselves."
(4) Mary Jemison, A Narrative of the Life of Mary Jemison (1824)
"It is a custom of the Indians, when one of their number is slain or taken prisoner in battle, to give to the nearest relative to the dead or absent, a prisoner, if they have chanced to take one, and if not, to give him the scalp of an enemy. On the return of the Indians from conquest, which is always announced by peculiar shoutings, demonstrations of joy, and the exhibition of some trophy of victory, the mourners come forward and make their claims. If they receive a prisoner, it is at their option either to satiate their vengeance, by taking his life in the most cruel manner they can conceive of; or, to receive and adopt him into the family, in the place of him whom they have lost. All the prisoners that are taken in battle and carried to the encampment or town by the Indians, are given to the bereaved families, till their number is made good. And unless the mourners have but just received the news of their bereavement, and are under the operation of a paroxysm of grief, anger and revenge; or, unless the prisoner is very old, sickly, or homely, they generally save him, and treat him kindly. But if their mental wound is fresh, their loss so great that they deem it irreparable, or if their prisoner or prisoners do not meet their approbation, no torture, let it be ever so cruel, seems sufficient to make them satisfaction. It is family, and not national, sacrifices amongst the Indians, that has given them an indelible stamp as barbarians, and identified their character with the idea which is generally formed of unfeeling ferocity, and the most abandoned cruelty."
(5) George Ruxton, Adventures in Mexico and the Rocky Mountains (1847)
"Seizing with his left hand the long and braided lock on the centre of the Indian's head, he passed the point edge of his keen butcher-knife round the parting, turning it at the same time under the skin to separate the scalp from the skull; then, with a quick and sudden jerk of his hand, he removed it entirely from the head, and giving the reeking trophy a wring upon the grass to free it from the blood, he coolly hitched it under his belt, and proceeded to the next; but seeing La Bonte operating upon this, he sought the third, who lay some little distance from the others. This one was still alive, a pistol-ball having passed through his body, without touching a vital spot. Thrusting his knife, for mercy's sake, into the bosom of the Indian, he likewise tore the scalp-lock from his head, and placed it with the other."
(6) Anna Jameson, Winter Studies and Summer Rambles (1838)
"Apropos to scalps, I have seen many of the warriors here, who had one or more of these suspended as decorations to their dress; and they seemed to me so much a part and parcel of the sauvagerie around me, that I looked on them generally without emotion or pain. But there was one thing I never could see without a start, and a thrill of horror - the scalp of long fair hair."
(7) Lewis Morgan, Kansas and Nebraska Journal (June, 1859)
"The Minnetaree village is a large village of dirt houses. Soon after we arrived the people who crowded the bank commenced a scalp dance on the top of the bluff in front of the pickets. They used two drums, like tambourines, which were beat by the dancers themselves, and they danced in a ring from right to left about 30 in all, one-third of them women. They all danced. The women sang in a sort of chorus, with their voices an octave above those of the men. The step was the up and down on the heel step. They were celebrating the taking of the Sioux scalp we heard complained of at Fort Pierre. This morning I met the 3 who took the scalp, painted and dressed, coming through the village towards the boat, and walking side and slide, singing their exploit. The dance, the song, the music, and the step among all our Indians came out of one brain. "
(8) Nelson Lee, Three Years Among the Comanches (1859)
"I soon became aware that the only members of the party who escaped the massacre, which proved to have been bloody as it was sudden, were Thomas Martin, John Stewart, Atkins, and myself.
Their next step was to collect the plunder. In this, they were, indeed, thorough. Not only did they gather up all our buffalo skins, Mexican blankets, rifles and revolvers, culinary utensils, and the like, but the dead bodies were stripped to the last shred, and tied on the backs of their mules. Nothing was left behind. By this time the morning light began to break on the eastern mountains, and preparations were made to depart. Before starting, however, they unbound our feet, conducted us through the camp, pointing out the stark corpses of our butchered comrades, who had lain down to sleep with such light and happy hearts the night before. The scene was awful and heart-rending beyond the imagination of man to conceive. Not satisfied with merely putting them to death, they had cut and hacked the poor, cold bodies in the most brutal and wanton manner; some having their arms and hands chopped off, others emboweled, and still others with their tongues drawn out and sharp sticks thrust through them. They then led us out some three or four hundred yards from the camp and pointed out the dead bodies of the sentinels, thus assuring us that not one of the entire party had escaped.
During all the time they were thus exhibiting the result of their savage work, they resorted to every hideous device to inspire us with terror. They would rush toward us with uplifted tomahawks, stained with blood, as if determined to strike, or grasp us by the hair, flourishing their knives around our heads as though intending to take our scalps. So far as I could understand their infernal shouts and pantomime, they sought to tell us that the fate which had overtaken our unfortunate companions not only awaited us, but likewise the whole race of the hated white man. All the dead, without exception, were scalped and the scalps, still fresh, were dangling from their belts."
(9) Mary Smith, included in the History of La Salle County (1877)
"The report of the unfortunate young women (Frances and Almira Hall) communicated to their friends and relatives, on their return from captivity, although treated with less severity, cannot fail to be read with much interest - they state, that after being compelled to witness not only the savage butchery of their beloved parents, but to hear the heart-piercing screeches and dying groans of their expiring friends and neighbors, and the hideous yells of the furious assaulting savages, they were seized and mounted upon horses, to which they were secured by ropes, when the savages with an exulting shout, took up their line of march in Indian file, bending their course west; the horses on which the females were mounted, being each led by one of their number, while two more walked on each side with their bloodstained scalping knives and tomahawks, to support and to guard them - they thus travelled for many hours, with as much speed as possible through a dark and almost impenetrable wood; when reaching a still more dark and gloomy swamp, they came to a halt. A division of the plunder which they had brought from the ill-fated settlement, and with which their stolen horses (nine in number) were loaded, here took place, each savage stowing away in his pack his proportional share as he received it; but on nothing did they seem to set so great a value, or view with so much satisfaction, as the bleeding scalps which they had, ere life had become extinct torn from the mangled heads of the expiring victims! the feelings of the unhappy prisoners at this moment, can be better judged than described when they could not be insensible that among these scalps, these shocking proofs of savage Cannibalism, were those of their beloved parents! but their moans and bitter lamentations had no effect in moving or diverting for a moment the savages from the business in which they had engaged, until it was completed; when, with as little delay as possible, and without giving themselves time to partake of any refreshment, (as the prisoners could perceive) they again set forward, and travelled with precipitancy until sunset when they again halted, and prepared a temporary lodging for the night-the poor unfortunate females, whose feelings as may be supposed, could be no other than such as bordered on distraction, and who had not ceased for a moment to weep most bitterly during the whole day, could not but believe that they were here destined to become the victims of savage outrage and abuse; and that their sufferings would soon terminate, as they would not (as they imagined) be permitted to live to see the light of another day!"
That night we came in contact with a company of men and had a little fight. We killed one white man and captured fifteen horses. I think this must have been near Ballinger. We came down to Pack Saddle in Llano County and there had a terrible fight with four white men. We were in the roughs and so were the whites, so neither had the advantage, but we routed them in about a half hour. I think I wounded one of the white men severely. I had a good shot at him, but they all got away.
We wended our way from there to House mountains, and there we captured a nice herd of horses, and this increased our drove to fifty. We went our same old route up the Llano river, but the rangers got on our trail and followed us up through Mason county, but we made for Kickapoo Springs, but the rangers had changed horses and were giving us close chase. We changed horses often and rode cautiously and made our escape, but we were followed to the edge of the plains. We reached home safely and with all our horses, but the Mexicans had again joined our squaws, and this time they had plenty of mescal and corn whiskey, and tobacco in abundance. We all got drunk and one hundred and forty Indian warriors and sixty Mexicans went on a cattle raid. West of Fort Griffin, on the old trail, we ran into a big herd being driven to Kansas. There were about twenty hands with the cattle. We rushed up and opened fire. The cattle stampeded and the cowboys rode in an opposite direction. There were enough of us to surround the cattle and chase the boys. We soon gave the boys up and started for Mexico with the herd, but the second day we were overtaken by about forty white men, who tried to retake the cattle, and in the attempt two Mexicans and one Indian were killed - the Indian was shot through the neck - and we had four horses killed. We repulsed them and got possession of two of their dead, who were promptly scalped. We put the scalps of those boys on high poles and had a big feast and war dance. We slew forty beeves and roasted them all at once. We kept up a chant and dance around those scalps day and night.
The skull of one poor squaw was blown, literally, to atoms, revealing the ridge of the palate and presenting a most ghastly and revolting spectacle. Another of the dead females, a middle-aged woman, was so riddled by bullets that there appeared to be no unwounded part of her person left. The third victim was young, plump, and, comparatively speaking, light of color. She had a magnificent physique, and, for an Indian, a most attractive set of features. She had been shot through the left breast just over the heart and was not in the least disfigured.
Ute John, the solitary friendly Indian who did not desert the column, scalped all the dead, unknown to the General or any of the officers, and I regret to be compelled to state a few - a very few - brutalized soldiers followed his savage example. Each took only a portion of the scalp, but the exhibition of human depravity was nauseating. The unfortunates should have been respected, even in the coldness and nothingness of death. In that affair, surely, the army were the assailants and the savages acted purely in self defense. I must add in justice to all concerned that neither General Crook nor any of his officers or men suspected that any women or children were in the gully until their cries were heard above the volume of fire poured upon the fatal spot.
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