CFB COMMANDER WILLIAMS' CRIMES SHOULD NOT BE ASSOCIATED WITH MOHAWKS
By Kahentintha Horn
Mohawk Nation News
http://www.mohawknationnews.com
The following story is dangeous b.s. meant to associate Mohawks with one of the most horrendous crimes in Canada. Who is this writer serving and what is the real story?
As an Indigenous person, I always look at "pat" stories with a critical eye. This story sounds like the kind of false propaganda that is always being put out about the Mohawks, that our women are prostitutes, are in the prison system, we are criminals, dealing in contraband, etc. These PR stories are put out about us to justify railroading us into jail for the rest of our lives and to demonize us. Often they don't have the right person or the facts. It's meant to scare us into towing the line.
Why is this writer trying to make us think they are native? Why is this writer connecting us with prostitutes being released into the streets of Kingston? Why is this writer trying to misrepresent the city of Belleville and the Mohawk women from Tyendinaga, as if we are displaying ourselves at the local bars to pick up soldiers? Is this association meant to look like this officer had a motive for picking up an indigenous looking person with dark skin and hair?
Something's seriously wrong here. This writer says that Indigenous are being released into the streets of Kingston. This is not true anymore. The Prison for Women was closed down about ten years ago [Arbour Inquiry Report]. A documentary was made and televised on it. Today Indigenous women are scattered throughout Canada and kept where they are arrested.
This story distorts the relationship between the Mohawks and the Trenton military establishment. There is no love between us. There is no overt underlying hatred between us either. We just don't like trespassers. We did stop that army convoy from going through our community a while ago. The impression being created is that a soldier was so racist that he might have picked her up because he thought she was native, killed her and left her body in the ditch in Tweed.
These kinds of rigged stories are meant to put our women in the position of victims and our men retaliate by terrorism.
Kahentinetha, MNN Mohawk Nation News kahentinetha2@yahoo.com www.mohawknationnews.com
MNN Commentary (above) on the following misleading story.
Subject: CLASSWAR: [eaglewatch] Trenton Military Commander Charged for Murders of Two Women: Just the Tip of the Iceberg
Another police/military goon serial killer... except this one got
hisself caught. Like his arrogant masters and other goons, he probably
started feeling invincible. The harder they come, eh?
I don't know when the working-class in North American will wake up to
the very real threat these organized killers pose to all of us -- and
not just to people in their colonies. But it won't be happening while
workers continue in their very mistaken support of the likes of the
NDP and Democratic Party, and various union and "community" dis-leaders
- -- who keep us in thrall to this class enemy and their murderous stooges.
Frankly, I hope they hang this guy. From the wing of one of his jet
fighters.
From: "Mrs. Stanley"
Date: Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:19:00 -0500
From the Eagle Watch #28
When we first heard about 27-year-old Jessica Lloyd gone missing in
Belleville, we suspected she was dead. We further speculated that it
was a soldier at Trenton who killed her. Someone replied that we were
just saying that cause we're so against the military. We objected that
our speculation is not based on blanket hostility toward military people
but on analysis and observation of the military mentality.
Belleville is a small city in southern Ontario with a high rate of
unemployment. Young women go to Belleville to sell their bodies just as
women desperate for livelihood have done for centuries during hard
times. It's the only way they see to survive. The market for
prostitutes in Belleville is huge with the Trenton Air Base just 20
minutes away.
Soldiers living away from home and family have "needs". They also have
some income to pay for such luxuries and indulgences. It doesn't stop
there.
Soldiers are trained to develop a dehumanizing attitude and to have
contempt for women who are viewed as weak and inferior. The military is
a fertile breeding ground for a chauvinistic outlook that glorifies self
and despises others. War is anti woman and anti life. It is
dehumanizing to the soldiers themselves.
On February 9, 2010, the commander at Trenton, 46-year-old Russell
Williams was arrested and charged for two murders, the missing Jessica
Lloyd whose body was found at Tweed, north of Trenton and another 36
year old woman who herself was a soldier at Trenton. He was charged in
two more cases of sexual assault involving home invasion. In the news
coverage, Williams was not shown shamed and in shackles but chatting
with Defence Minister Peter MacKay who himself looks like a perv.
That's just our opinion but as eagle-eyed grandmothers we read people
like open books. You can bet that Williams will get kid glove treatment
by his peers.
How did this man think he could get away with such horrific antisocial
behaviour? The simple fact is: rape, sexual assault and abuse of women
by military men goes on all the time. It is only when women are
reported missing and dead bodies start turning up that police and media
become involved.
This case is just the tip of the iceberg. How many of Williams'
subordinates admire him and emulate him? What kind of sexist and
racist jokes do they constantly utter, endorsing this dehumanizing
brutality toward women? What goes on at various parties and bars where
alcohol brings out the beast?
Police themselves also feel they can act with impunity in committing
crimes against women. Statistics indicate that both demographics of
military and police commit more domestic violence than the average.
While some foolish women find the uniform "romantic", those in uniform
hide behind its authority. Who can a woman turn to for help under such
circumstances?
Now, with more and more Canadian military people going to war theatres,
this cynical and cruel mentality is becoming ever more widespread. It's
the proverbial chickens coming home to roost. These men are sick and
unfit for normal society and family life. They consider themselves to
be better than everyone else. The matter is hidden from public view yet
it is a growing stinking cancer in society that cannot remain hidden.
There are solutions. It is extremely urgent that we speak out to stop
the growing militarization of society. Too many people are not even
paying attention. The expansion of the Trenton air base now underway,
will double the military population there. What will it take for people
to see what is happening? What magnitude of scale must be reached
before people wake up?
Southern Ontario is on its way to becoming a militarized zone where
only the military have jobs. Kingston, east of Trenton is an
historical military city with another base and the same scenario of
prostitution, strippers and careless young women being victimized.
We are NOT saying that Jessica Lloyd was a hooker. We don't know
anything about her except that she is dead and someone is mourning her
now.
The other long overdue solution is the legalization of the sex trade
workers into safe houses. Known as the "oldest profession",
prostitution is not going away, even in times of permissive sexual
mores where favours are given away. Why not dignify the job and make it
safer for the women and even the young men who choose this line of work?
Kingston is also the site of several prisons where Indigenous people
are released to the streets with nowhere to go. Indigenous women under
the double stigma of gender and race, are especially vulnerable and at
risk. We have to take care of our own. We have to teach our daughters
the truth about the dangers of careless sexual conduct. We must also
teach our sons to respect women. We need better opportunities for
education and livelihood for our children. The military life is not
the answer.
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