Anti-ICE Uprising in LA Shines a Light on a Dark Chapter in U.S. History

California and all of the Southwest were stolen from Mexico in a brutal U.S. invasion in the mid 1840s that ended with a dubious treaty forced down Mexico's throat at gunpoint.

Teaching U.S. history is one of the most difficult tasks a teacher can face. On one hand, you try to instill in young Americans the notion that they live in the greatest country — the most ‘free’ and ‘democratic’ — but you eventually come up against the dark and nasty reality of how the country was formed.

From Day 1, the U.S. was founded on stealing land from native inhabitants, driving them westwards, slaughtering many in the process. While today these crimes are merely words on a computer screen, 100 and 250 years ago they were the reality, blood, terror and tragedy of millions of Native Americans.

Imagine for a minute that you’re going about your life and suddenly a group of people show up, burn your house, shoot dead one or two family members, but ‘mercifully’ give you the option to leave immediately for parts unknown. In a nutshell, that’s how the United States was formed.

Not very nice, is it?

As a child, I faced this enormous internal conflict. On one hand, I went to a Catholic school where I was taught “Thou shall not kill” and “Thou shall not steal”, but then an hour later, in history class, I learned that my country was formed precisely by killing and stealing. (You can imagine how the teachers ‘loved’ me).

As the history lesson progressed, the situation became hopeless. When we reached the 1840s, a Pandora’s box of contradictions and moral depravity was unleashed — the U.S. stole land and slaughtered Mexicans because people in Washington DC coveted their land and hated Catholics!

Goodness, what type of country does this to its neighbors?!

In addition to the U.S., only two other countries in history were formed by geographical expansion across an entire continent — Russia and Australia.

The massive Australian continent was sparsely populated by native tribes (estimated population of 750,000 before the British arrived), and you know how that was handled with typical European racism and brutality.

Russia’s experience, however, was quite different. Since Eurasia is vast and Russian troops spread thin, the tsars primarily utilized a clever strategy of conquest through absorption, minimal fighting and bloodshed, primarily relying on co-opting local elites, respecting their authority and traditions in return for obeisance.

The only exception was the conquest of Crimea and the Caucasus region where long wars were fought for control of these Islamic regions that were part of the Ottoman Empire and Persian Empire. (I exclude the frequent wars with western neighbors — Poles, Germans, Swedes, etc — because they’re not relevant to Russia establishing control over an entire continent).

The fruits of Russia’s benevolent policy are evident today in the existence of many national republics, where indigenous peoples thrive and enjoy many rights. Buryatia, Tuva, Tatarstan, Sakha-Yakutia, Komi Republic, Dagestan, and etc. These are the equivalent of states in America. They are not reservations, which are dumping grounds of despair for indigenous people in the U.S.

Russia could have chosen the American path and exterminated the indigenous peoples, but chose not to, most likely due to the country’s Christian faith. Hence, today, Russia is truly a genuine melting pot of over 120 indigenous nations.

To further prove my point, take a look at the Baltic States, Finland and even Poland. When they were a part of the Russian Empire, all these regions enjoyed special status. Poland and Finland enjoyed much autonomy. Yet, British and later American propagandists promoted the false notion of Russia as ‘a prison house of nations’.

All of the above came to my mind this past weekend in the context of the recent anti-ICE protests in Southern California. On one hand, I believe in law and order, and illegal immigration is a crime. But if a Mexican citizen ‘illegally’ crosses the border and enters the U.S., is that really a violation of the law?

I raise the question because that land was stolen from Mexico in 1848 and cemented by a dubious peace treaty. In 1848, there was not much public discussion of the conquest of northern Mexico. The White House and Congress deliberately prevented discussion, well aware that many Americans wouldn’t approve.

Also, the Mexican leader at that time, Manuel de la Peña y Peña, was in power under questionable circumstances, and the country’s capital city was occupied by American troops. Mexico had basically disintegrated into anarchy.

U.S. territorial demands came at gunpoint, making the theft of over half of Mexican territory one of history’s most audacious crimes. This is the dirty secret that the U.S. government today doesn’t want people to know. When do you ever hear about the Mexican and American War? Almost never.

Yes, the uprising in LA and other cities across the U.S. are taking place in the context of the power struggle between Trump and the Liberals, who are attempting a repeat of the BLM riots that shook the country exactly five years ago this month.

But the anti-ICE protests have gathered intensity precisely due to the historical context of the past theft of Mexican land and the desire of many illegal immigrants to remain on land that they consider belonging to their ancestors. This is why many protestors in LA wave Mexican flags (video above) and are violent.

This uprising has only begun; the genie is out of the bottle. It’s going to be a hot summer in the U.S.