The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: measure m

  • Letters to the Editor: No On M

    Letters to the Editor: No On M

    This veteran will vote No on Measure M, here’s why

    I’m a combat veteran of the Vietnam war that witnessed atrocities committed against Vietnamese civilians by some U.S. troops.

    The Philippine-American war that was initiated by President McKinley with his annexation of the Philippines was a ‘model’ for the later war in Vietnam. This included the massacre of civilians, burning of crops, killing of farm animals, herding of civilians into ‘detention camps,’ designation of certain areas where anyone could be killed (later in Vietnam called “free fire zones”) and the systematic use of torture.

    The Philippine-American war and insurrection lasted from 1898 to 1913 and the estimates of Filipinos killed range from 500,000 to 1.4 million. In Nov. 1901, the Manila correspondent for the Philadelphia Ledger reported: “Our men have been relentless, have killed to exterminate men, women, children, prisoners, and captives, active insurgents and suspected people from lads of ten up, the idea prevailing that the Filipino as such was little better than a dog.”

    It was in this war that the racist label ‘gook’ was first used against the Filipinos which made it easier for some U.S. troops to commit atrocities against them, later ‘gook’ was used in the Korean and Vietnam wars to the same effect. While McKinley was assassinated in 1901, the war and insurrection he started by the annexation of the Philippines lasted long after his death.

    The writer Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) was a fierce critic of ‘U.S. Imperialism’ and McKinley’s annexations of Hawaii, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, Samoa and the Philippines. In 1906, he described the massacre of an indigenous Filipino group called the ‘Moros’ by U.S. occupation forces.

    I paraphrase:

    600 Moros men, women and children had sought shelter at the bottom of a volcano and when the U.S. military found out that they were there, they brought troops and artillery up to the rim of the volcano and shot downward, slaughtering everyone, including babies in their mother’s arms.

    This reminds me of another massacre called Mylai in Vietnam where around 500 Vietnamese civilians, including babies clinging to their mothers, were summarily executed.

    This is what I think of when I walk by the statue of McKinley, and this is why I want it removed from the Arcata plaza.

    Sincerely,

    Robert J. Hepburn

  • Letters to the Editor: Vote No on Measure M and Remove McKinley

    Letters to the Editor: Vote No on Measure M and Remove McKinley

    One reader shares his opinion on Arcata’s statue of William McKinley

    The fight to remove the McKinley Statue from the Arcata Plaza has been a long fought battle. The McKinley Statue represents William McKinley, the 25th President of the United States, who gave birth to U.S. imperialism through genocide and colonized over 7,000 islands in both the Pacific and Caribbean by instigating the Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American War. Domestically, McKinley had a similar impact among the Native American community through breaking up several tribes, abandoning the African American community during times of race riots, and driving the U.S. into a depression.

    The current movement to remove the McKinley Statue was launched by Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples because the Arcata Plaza is the same site where indigenous peoples were sold into slavery. Grassroots activism, led by the Historic Justice Alliance, successfully pressured Arcata City Council to vote to remove the McKinley statue on Feb. 21, and began the removal process. Following the vote, a small group of reactionaries organized a petition to keep the McKinley Statue, which was approved for the Nov. 6 ballot as Measure M.

    So what does Measure M do? If Measure M goes to a “Yes” vote it would do several things. First, it would overturn the Arcata City Council decision and keep the statue. Second, it would prevent any future modification of the statue. Third, it prevents Arcata City Council from having any future say on the McKinley Statue despite being the original body that erected the statue. Lastly, if the statue comes down before Nov. 6 then the Arcata City Council is legally obligated to put it back up.

    For students, this means that the next step in removing the McKinley Statue is going to the local polls where we have the power to influence the policies that affect future students. Currently, the Vote No on Measure M campaign is endorsed by more than 40 community organizations, including the Wiyot Tribal Council. Students are encouraged to vote “No” on Measure M on Nov. 6 by registering to vote by Oct. 22 in Arcata at https://registertovote.ca.gov.

    Nathaniel McGuigan

    Regional Mecha Co-Chair Northern California Minister of Communication

    Humboldt PSL Email: nam449@humboldt.edu