thenation--2020-05-28--People Can Only Bear So Much Injustice Before Lashing Out

I would never throw a rock at the police .
I would never throw a brick through the window of a big-box store .
I would never set fire to an office building .
But I want to .
I understand why some people do .
I know I am supposed to counsel “ nonviolence.
” I ’ m a 42-year old man with a wife , two kids , and a mortgage ; I ’ ve got a college degree and a law degree and a blue checkmark on Twitter ; I know I am supposed to shun “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ allegedly cede the moral high ground of protests when they respond to tear gas and rubber bullets with stone and flame .
But every person has a limit to the injustice they can bear before lashing out .
The second day of protests in Minneapolis over the death of George Floyd erupted into violence last night .
I understand why .
And I ’ m surprised it doesn ’ t happen more often .
Put yourself in the position of a relatively conscious black person in America just since this past March .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ rip through their communities while the media continually runs live press conferences of a racist president lying about the disease .
We ’ ve seen layoffs and unemployment ravage our communities , while Congress funnels billions of dollars to white-owned businesses .
We ’ ve seen white people absolutely lose their minds , waving guns and Confederate flags at police officers , pushing them into lakes , and gathering in large groups without consequence , while we ’ ve seen police literally sit on black people for allegedly violating social distancing orders .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ started .
In the past three weeks : Ahmaud Arbery was lynched , on video .
Breonna Taylor was killed by police in her own bed , offscreen .
And George Floyd was choked out on the street in broad daylight by police while strangers literally begged for his life .
Imagine you ’ ve been black this whole time and watched all of this happen , and you show up to protest and , instead of being met with docile , restrained police like the white Confederates get , you are confronted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ use tear gas and rubber bullets to “ control ” your crowd .
And then you see a rock .
And then you see an unguarded white-owned business .
And then you see a match .
The fact that most black people do not pick up the rock in that situation is a miracle .
The fact that the overwhelming majority of black people respond to the violence and terrorism practiced against us with words and songs instead of rocks and bricks is altogether supernatural .
America should be thankful black and brown @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In other parts of the world , the injustice regularly practiced by the white American paramilitary forces known as the “ local police ” would be met with IEDs and guerilla war tactics .
Here , black people take to the streets and almost all of us do so nonviolently .
America is the luckiest place on Earth .
People need to understand and remember that nonviolence is a choice .
I ’ m Haitian by ancestry .
That ’ s relevant because , as any person of Haitian ancestry will happily @ @ @ @ @ @ @ successful “ slave revolt ” in the Western hemisphere , and freedom wasn ’ t achieved nonviolently .
I think my heritage makes me acutely aware that nonviolence is but one option among many .
Everybody talks like T ’ Challa when white people are listening , but Killmonger was right , at least partially .
There are multiple ways to be a Black Panther .
It takes incredible strength to practice nonviolence in the face of murder and oppression .
It takes incredible , nearly irrational faith that the long arc of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ justice .
I ’ m not Jesus and I ’ m not Martin Luther King Jr. ; “ turning the other cheek ” does not come naturally to me .
It doesn ’ t even seem logical most of the time .
Until you ’ ve participated in a primarily black protest , you don ’ t really know how naked , how exposed , nonviolence feels .
Until you ’ ve heard the rumor ripple through the crowd that the cops are planning to “ open fire , ” you haven ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
You don ’ t know how foolish it feels to be out there , unarmed , protesting police who you know are authorized to kill you .
The only one of those protests I ’ ve been to was after the murder of Sean Bell in New York City.And the protests around Bell ’ s murder didn ’ t even get that hot .
But I learned then that street-level activism was not going to be my thing .
Being an effective black protester against white violence takes restraint .
That ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It would be a lot easier to show up , take a bucket of rocks , and throw them at enemies .
Anybody can do that .
It ’ s natural to do that .
But going out there knowing that violence can be done upon you while you are defenseless takes a kind of courage I do not have .
On top of all that , the nonviolent black protester knows for an absolute fact that their strength and courage will be ignored by the white media , the very people whose @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if even one knucklehead does something “ violent.
” I am clever with words , I can make a bomb-ass placard .
But I also know that I could stand outside for hours dropping verses like Lin-Manuel Hamilton , and the camera would ignore me if two brothers jacked a television from Target .
The camera likes fire .
It likes blood .
It is attracted to the violence .
Sometimes people throw rocks because throwing rocks feels like the only thing white people even notice .
There ’ s Only One Possible @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Cops Breonna Taylor Was Murdered for Sleeping While Black We Didn ’ t Need Video to Know Ahmaud Arbery Was Lynched The press incentivizes violence ; the rage inspires violence ; and the instinct towards self-preservation makes violence seem smart and justified .
So I choose to praise those who protest nonviolently , instead of decrying those who do not .
The restraint shown by black people all across this country is admirable .
We are being terrorized .
We are being traumatized .
We are being hunted by cops who can kill @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , when we gather to complain , those same cops use violent tactics to scare us and hurt us and disperse us .
And still , almost all of us use our words instead of our fists .
This country could be on fire almost every night in almost every city .
It ’ s not , because most black people in this country choose to exercise tremendous restraint .
Most black people are still willing to talk this out .
Most black people have the courage and fortitude to withstand the violence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the level of an American police officer .
America should be more thankful of that .
And it should remember that it ’ s a choice .

Subscribe to The Nation Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month!
Get The Nation’s Weekly Newsletter Fridays. The best of the week. Email By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Fridays. The best of the week.
Thank you for signing up for The Nation’s weekly newsletter.
Repro Nation A monthly newsletter on the global fight for reproductive freedom. Email By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here.
Thank you for signing up. For more from The Nation, check out our latest issue
Subscribe to The Nation Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month!
Support Progressive Journalism The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter. The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter.
Sign up for our Wine Club today. Did you know you can support The Nation by drinking wine?
I would never throw a rock at the police. I would never throw a brick through the window of a big-box store. I would never set fire to an office building. But I want to. I understand why some people do.
I know I am supposed to counsel nonviolence. I’m a 42-year-old man with a wife, two kids, and a mortgage; I’ve got a college degree and a law degree and a blue check mark on Twitter; I know I am supposed to shun “rioters” and “looters” who allegedly cede the moral high ground of protests when they respond to tear gas and rubber bullets with stone and flame. But all people have a limit to the injustice they can bear before lashing out.
The second day of protests in Minneapolis over the death of George Floyd erupted into violence last night. I understand why. And I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more often.
Put yourself in the position of a relatively conscious black person in America just since this past March. Black people have seen a pandemic disproportionately rip through their communities while the media continually runs live press conferences of a racist president lying about the disease. We’ve seen layoffs and unemployment ravage our communities while Congress funnels billions of dollars to white-owned businesses. We’ve seen white people absolutely lose their minds, waving guns and Confederate flags at police officers, pushing them into lakes and gathering in large groups without consequence while we’ve seen police literally sit on black people for allegedly violating social distancing orders.
And then the stories of the killings started. In the past three months: Ahmaud Arbery was lynched, on video. Breonna Taylor was killed by police in her own bed, offscreen. And George Floyd was choked out on the street in broad daylight by police while strangers literally begged for his life.
Imagine you’ve been black this whole time and watched all of this happen and you show up to protest and, instead of being met with docile, restrained police that the white Confederates get, you are confronted by police in full riot gear who use tear gas and rubber bullets to control your crowd. Current Issue View our current issue
And then you see a rock. And then you see an unguarded white-owned business. And then you see a match.
The fact that most black people do not pick up the rock in that situation is a miracle. The fact that the overwhelming majority of black people respond to the violence and terrorism practiced against us with words and songs instead of rocks and bricks is altogether supernatural. America should be thankful black and brown people respond to state-sponsored violence with nonviolence. In other times, in other places, the injustice regularly practiced by the white American paramilitary forces known as the local police would be met with rebellion or revolution. Here, black people take to the streets, and almost all of us do so nonviolently. America is the luckiest place on earth. Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann
People need to understand and remember that nonviolence is a choice. I’m Haitian by ancestry. That’s relevant because, as any person of Haitian ancestry will happily tell you, Haiti had the only successful slave revolt in the Western Hemisphere, and freedom wasn’t achieved nonviolently. I think my heritage makes me acutely aware that nonviolence is but one option among many. Everybody talks like T’Challa when white people are listening, but Killmonger was right, at least partially. There are multiple ways to be a Black Panther.
It takes incredible strength to practice nonviolence in the face of murder and oppression. It takes incredible, nearly irrational faith that the long arc of history will bend toward the cause of justice. I’m not Jesus, and I’m not Martin Luther King Jr.; turning the other cheek does not come naturally to me. It doesn’t even seem logical most of the time.
Until you’ve participated in a primarily black protest, you don’t really know how naked, how exposed, nonviolence feels. Until you’ve heard the rumor ripple through the crowd that the cops are planning to open fire, you haven’t really thought about what nonviolence means. You don’t know how foolish it feels to be out there, unarmed, protesting police who you know are authorized to kill you.
The only one of those protests I’ve been to was after the murder of Sean Bell in New York City. And the protests around his murder didn’t even get that hot. But I learned then that street-level activism was not going to be my thing. Being an effective black protester against white violence takes restraint. That’s actually the most important skill. It would be a lot easier to show up, take a bucket of rocks, and throw them at enemies. Anybody can do that. It’s natural to do that. But going out there knowing that violence can be done upon you while you are defenseless takes a kind of courage I do not have.
On top of all that, nonviolent black protesters know for an absolute fact that their strength and courage will be ignored by the white media, the very people whose attention they are trying to get, if even one knucklehead does something “violent.” I am clever with words. I can make a bomb-ass placard. But I also know that I could stand outside for hours dropping verses like Lin-Manuel Hamilton and the camera would ignore me if two brothers jacked a television from Target. The camera likes fire. It likes blood. It is attracted to the violence. Sometimes people throw rocks because throwing rocks feels like the only thing white people even notice. More from Mystal There’s Only One Possible Conclusion: White America Likes Its Killer Cops Elie Mystal Breonna Taylor Was Murdered for Sleeping While Black Elie Mystal We Didn’t Need Video to Know Ahmaud Arbery Was Lynched Elie Mystal
The press incentivizes violence, the rage inspires violence, and the instinct toward self-preservation makes violence seem smart and justified.
So I choose to praise those who protest nonviolently, instead of decrying those who do not. The restraint shown by black people all across this country is admirable. We are being terrorized. We are being traumatized. We are being hunted by cops who can kill us out in the open, and when we gather to complain, those cops use violent tactics to scare us and hurt us and disperse us. And still, almost all of us use our words instead of our fists.
This country could be on fire almost every night in almost every city. It’s not, because most black people in this country choose to exercise tremendous restraint. Most black people are still willing to talk this out. Most black people have the courage and fortitude to withstand the violence done against us without lowering ourselves to the level of an American police officer.
America should be more thankful for that. And it should remember that it’s a choice.


thenation--2020-05-28--2 Days in May That Shattered Korean Democracy

On May 18 , South Koreans paused to mark the 40th anniversary of the Gwangju Uprising of 1980 , one of the most traumatic days in their history .
The 10-day revolt was triggered when students and citizens protesting a military coup by a renegade general were attacked by airborne special forces with a viciousness and cruelty that Koreans had not experienced since the darkest days of the Korean War .
The documents Tim Shorrock obtained about the US role in the 1980 uprising are now permanently stored at Gwangju ’ s 518 Archives .
The armed resistance by Gwangju @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the marauding troops .
The townspeople , freed from decades of military rule , kept their city running , buried their dead , and transformed themselves into a self-organized system of mutual aid they now call the Gwangju Commune .
Those who died in Gwangju “ believed that the survivors would manage to open up a better world ” and “ were convinced that the defeat of that day would become the victory of tomorrow , ” President Moon Jae-in declared on May 18 in the city square where protesters were killed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a just society was snuffed out on May 27 by Korean Army troops , who were released from their usual duties on the border with North Korea to reoccupy Gwangju .
The official death toll from the uprising stands at 165 , but residents believe that more than 300 people were killed , with dozens still unaccounted for .
How South Korea Triumphed , and the US Floundered , Over the Pandemic Despite that defeat , Gwangju ’ s resistance is now seen as the first shot in the mass movement that , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of dictatorship to create one of the world ’ s most impressive democracies .
After years of hostility by conservative governments and attacks on its legitimacy by South Korean rightists , the Gwangju Uprising is widely celebrated in art , music , literature , and film .
President Moon , who came of age as a political activist during South Korea ’ s authoritarian era , promised to give momentum to an independent truth commission that is investigating the Korean military ’ s use of force , including the question of who ordered @ @ @ @ @ @ @ helicopter to strafe a building near Gwangju ’ s center .
The commission , he said in an interview with the Gwangju affiliate of broadcast company MBC , would also seek to identify individuals who sought to “ conceal and distort the truth ” of the Gwangju Uprising .
That ’ s a tall order , because that trail leads straight to the United States and its president , Jimmy Carter , who ran for office in 1976 vowing to make human rights the centerpiece of American foreign policy .
Sadly , he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sparking the worst crisis in US-Korean relations since 1945 .
What happened there stoked years of anti-American sentiment , and Gwangju has remained a point of contention ever since .
As some Koreans are painfully aware , the Carter administration played an essential role in Gwangju by helping the coup leader , Lt. Gen. Chun Doo-hwan , crush the uprising .
At a high-level White House meeting on May 22 that we first reported in 1996 , Carter ’ s national security team approved the use of force to retake the city and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if he agreed to long-term political change ( that , of course , didn ’ t happen until he was forced out by massive protests in 1987 ) .
The stakes were high , and were exacerbated for US policy-makers by the simultaneous crisis over the Islamic revolution in Iran , which eventually brought Carter ’ s presidency down .
As the once-secret minutes to the White House meeting show , plans were also discussed for direct US military intervention in Korea if the situation in Gwangju spiraled out of control .
Within @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the US commander in Korea , Gen. John Wickham , released two divisions of Korean Army troops from the US-South Korean Combined Forces Command ( CFC ) to retake the city .
Fearing that North Korea could intervene , the Pentagon also asked the Korean military to delay its assault on Gwangju to give the US military time to dispatch an aircraft carrier and several spy planes to the peninsula , according to 1989 testimony by South Korea ’ s martial law commander at the time .
Under that cover , Chun ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the remaining rebels .
Hundreds more were hunted down and tortured in a military prison in Gwangju ( it ’ s now a museum where former prisoners work as guides ) .
Chun was tried and convicted in 1996 of treason and murder , but he was later pardoned .
To this day , he continues to deny any responsibility for the mass killing .
In its official statements about the incident , the United States has consistently described Gwangju as a domestic issue for South Korea .
“ When all the dust @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Americans didn ’ t know what was going on and certainly didn ’ t approve it , ” a State Department official said in 1996 when the White House meeting was first reported .
Carter , who has won global praise for his humanitarian actions since leaving the presidency , has never spoken publicly about his actions in Gwangju ( through an intermediary , he declined to comment for this article ) .
His most extensive remarks came in an interview on CNN on June 1 , 1980 , when he was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ US policy in Korea reflected a conflict between human rights and national security .
“ There is no incompatibility , ” Carter snapped .
South Korea , he said , typified a situation where “ the maintenance of a nation ’ s security from Communist subversion or aggression is a prerequisite to the honoring of human rights and the establishment of democratic processes.
” Shamefully , none of this was true .
As two of the principal journalists who have investigated US involvement in Gwangju , we know there is much more to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ years , we have interviewed dozens of participants and survivors of the uprising as well as many of the US officials involved in the decision-making that May .
Now , at a time of growing tensions between Seoul and Washington over North Korea and the cost of US military bases in the South , we have uncovered deeper evidence of US complicity in Gwangju and what the US government knew and when it knew it .
The story is much worse than we thought .
• When Carter ’ s White House made @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crackdown on the rebellion , it knew that 60 people in Gwangju had been shot to death and over 400 injured just 24 hours earlier , and that Chun was directly responsible .
We learned that from notes taken by a senior Pentagon official who was present at the critical White House meeting on May 22 .
• General Wickham , the US commander , was fully briefed on the Korean Army ’ s planning for the May 27 assault on Gwangju in a May 21 meeting with Gen. Lew Byung-hyun , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , in turn , told the US general that he was carrying out the wishes of Chun and the coup leaders .
Wickham himself confirmed this .
• The US contingency plans for Gwangju included sending additional US ground forces into Korea , a volatile proposal that has never been disclosed before and indicates how seriously US commanders and the Carter administration viewed the situation .
If it had escalated , “ we would have been much more aggressive ” and asked for “ additional support from the Pacific Command to suppress the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
• The prime mover in the May 22 meeting was Secretary of Defense Harold Brown , who had been deeply involved over the previous three years restoring once-frayed ties between the US and South Korean militaries and strengthening the Cold War alliance between the US , Korean , and Japanese armed forces .
The Gwangju Uprising was the culmination of a series of events that unfolded in South Korea after the assassination of the former dictator , Park Chung-hee , on October 26 , 1979 .
Fed up with 18 years of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ began agitating for a return to democracy .
As tensions escalated over the next six months , General Chun and a small group within the military launched a rolling coup , taking over the military , the Korean CIA , and then , on May 17 , the government itself .
“ This might have been the longest coup d ’ état in world history , ” says Prof. Kwang Ho Chun , a military strategy specialist and professor of international studies at Jeonbuk National University in North Cholla Province .
In the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , led by diplomat ( and liberal icon ) Richard Holbrooke , tried to find a middle ground between the martial law forces and the pro-democracy movement [ see Shorrock , “ Debacle in Kwangju , ” The Nation , December 9 , 1996 ] .
“ The United States had at least five months to support Korean democracy , ” but failed , Professor Chun said in his interview .
While the US emphasis during Gwangju on Korean security was understandable , he said , US officials should have recognized that “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ much faster ” than military action .
In fact , as the rebellion intensified , Carter and his advisers began to see it as a much greater threat than Chun ’ s violent takeover of the government .
The situation came to a head over a 48-hour period between May 21 , 1980 , when Chun ’ s forces opened fire on the people of Gwangju , and May 22 , when the United States threw its support behind the Korean generals .
“ May 21 , 1 pm , was a very @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an activist and writer who witnessed the massacre in front of Gwangju ’ s provincial capitol building , told us as he stood on the exact spot of the firing years later .
For three days , Chun ’ s paratroopers had used boots , clubs , bayonets , and even flamethrowers to terrorize the city , filling the morgues with the dead and overwhelming the hospitals with bodies ripped apart by the violence .
Angered and shocked beyond measure , the people , led at first by young students and joined by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , gangsters , and prostitutes , fought back with vehicles and their own handmade weapons .
By midday , hundreds of thousands of furious Gwangju residents surrounded the paratroopers , who had made their stand at the old capitol building .
Suddenly , and without warning , Lee says , the troops opened fire .
Repeated volleys from M-16s turned Gwangju ’ s now-famous Geumnam-ro Street into a scene of carnage .
“ I saw so many people killed , so many injured , with blood everywhere , ” recalls Lee .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , that I had to join the struggle to fight the military.
” The massacre was indelibly sealed in Korean memory in A Taxi Driver , the acclaimed 2018 film starring Song Kang-ho , the beloved character actor from the Academy Award–winning Parasite .
In the hours that followed , Gwangju residents raided police stations and armories in nearby towns and grabbed carbines and other weapons , and by that evening had taken over the city .
But tragically , as recounted in Lee ’ s famous book about the uprising , Kwangju @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Darkness of the Age , many of the fighters naively believed that the United States , as the champion of democracy , would come to their aid .
Then came the invasion on May 27 .
“ The citizens of Gwangju felt completely betrayed by the US government and believed that US statements about human rights only extended to the right kind of people and not to them , ” says David Dollinger , a former Peace Corps volunteer who was one of the few Americans who remained in the city during the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rebels in the hours before they were killed .
According to Dollinger , who now lives in London , Gwangju ’ s hopes for US assistance were raised when people in the city heard reports that a US aircraft carrier had been deployed to Korean waters .
But their optimism faded when they learned that troops had been moved from the DMZ and were headed for the city .
“ By that time , they knew there would be no peaceful ending , ” he said .
They were right : The Carter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the meeting on May 22 .
“ At that time , the belief [ in Washington ] was that 60 were dead and 400 wounded , ” said Nicholas Platt , who was a deputy assistant secretary of defense and a senior aide to Defense Secretary Brown .
Platt is one of the few people still alive who attended the May 22 White House meeting .
During an interview in 2017 at his office at the Asia Society in New York , he pulled out a sheaf of notes he had taken during @ @ @ @ @ @ @ him reading them ; their contents are explosive .
At the meeting , Platt recalled , “ Gwangju was the main issue.
” Yet , judging from his notes and the official minutes , there was no discussion whatsoever about what the people of Gwangju had suffered .
Instead , the entire discussion revolved around security .
“ There was unrest in Gwangju and the Korean military was moving troops in , ” said Platt .
“ We were worried whether they would be able to restore order .
There were units that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we thought that might lessen our ability to deal with the North Koreans.
” Lee , when shown Platt ’ s notes , was shocked to hear that US officials had such detailed numbers on casualties only 36 hours after the firing on Geumnam-ro .
“ That number was concealed by the coup leaders , ” he said last week , and was not even known to the Korean public until South Korea ’ s newly elected National Assembly held hearings in 1988 .
We also interviewed General Wickham about his meetings with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the CFC ( then , as now , the US commander of the CFC controls all US and Korean troops during times of war ) .
Significantly , they met on the afternoon of May 21 , within hours of the mass shooting in Gwangju .
“ Lew and I met several times a day on Gwangju , ” Wickham said in an interview at his home in Texas in 2017 .
The gist of his conversations , he said , were then relayed via “ secure phone ” to the other members @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Ambassador William Gleysteen and CIA station chief Robert Brewster .
“ General Lew was worried about Gwangju morphing into warfare around the country , and he wanted to tamp it down the best he could .
That ’ s why he and I talked about how to do that with minimal force [ and ] what ’ s the best way to do it ” said Wickham .
But , in carrying out the operation , Lew and other Korean commanders understood they were doing the bidding of General Chun and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ army in December .
“ The coup leaders were saying we have to suppress this , it ’ s a threat to our coup , ” Wickham recalled of his conversation with General Lew ( in 1981 , after Chun became president , Lew was named South Korea ’ s ambassador to the United States , maintaining his role as a key liaison with Washington ) .
Brewster and Gleysteen sent the information from Wickham ’ s meeting to Washington in top secret cables ( which we later obtained ) in preparation for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In a critical but highly redacted report , the CIA declared that “ the insurrection in Kwangju…poses a serious challenge to the Martial Law Command ’ s authority.… Violence has spread to about 16 towns within a 50-mile radius of Kwangju , all in South Cholla Province.
” While “ trying to negotiate a cease-fire , ” the military “ probably will have to use force to end the rebellion , ” the agency concluded , adding that Korean generals “ would be hard pressed to deal with simultaneous uprisings of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ words were repeated almost verbatim by Gleysteen in his cables , who added this observation about Chun and his martial law group : “ The December 12 generals obviously feel threatened by the whole affair.
” Given the overwhelming focus on a military response , it ’ s no surprise that , as Platt ’ s notes reveal , Defense Secretary Brown was the dominant figure in these deliberations .
This was a natural progression from his role as the chief US interlocutor with the Korean military before and after Park ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Chiefs were in constant contact with the Korean military leadership , even after General Chun seized control of the army in his December 12 coup .
As shown in Platt ’ s notes , Brown ’ s forceful views overrode others who were deeply concerned about Chun , such as Warren Christopher , then the deputy secretary of state .
“ Chun has done real harm and set the process back , ” Christopher said at one point in the meeting .
His boss , Secretary of State Edmund Muskie , agreed , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ liability , ” and asking , “ Aren ’ t we going to be hostage to them ?
” When David Aaron , an aide to National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski , raised the possibility of urging Chun to step down , Brown intervened .
“ If he goes that will create a vacuum.
” Brown said , according to Platt ’ s notes .
Worse , the defense secretary even seemed to admire Chun and his martial law group .
“ They have been quite good about using force , ” he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , said Platt , Brown ’ s Pentagon even established “ a special channel ” between the general and the Joint Chiefs of Staff through Gen. John Vessey , the deputy chief of staff of the US Army who had been the US commander in Korea prior to Wickham and knew Chun well .
For Koreans , one of the most enraging aspects of this meeting was Brown ’ s statement , as recorded by Platt , that Koreans would accept the administration ’ s support for Chun because “ Koreans go with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , General Wickham would amplify this thought in public , saying that Koreans were “ lemmings ” who would follow any strong leader .
Such comments reflect the predominant thinking among US leaders at the time that Koreans were simply not ready for democracy and would easily accept another military strongman , even after 18 years of dictatorship .
Brown , who died in 2019 , did not respond when we contacted him in 2017 .
Brown ’ s official biography portrays him as a valiant fighter for Korean democracy , emphasizing his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1980 to persuade him not to execute Kim Dae-jung , the dissident leader who would later be elected president .
As for the White House meeting about Gwangju on May 22 , 1980 , the bio blandly notes that participants “ decided that the ROK had to resume authority in Kwangju ” before the United States could resume its pressure for liberalization .
That ’ s an interesting euphemism for helping to put down an insurrection against brutality .
This May 11 , as this article was being prepared , the State Department @ @ @ @ @ @ @ friendship and cooperation between allies , ” released several dozen newly declassified documents related to Gwangju to the Moon government in Seoul .
Many were first released in redacted form 24 years ago , and most are fairly innocuous , apparently designed to put US policy in the best light possible .
But one of the cables illustrates the kind of disinformation that the Carter administration relied on to make its decisions about Gwangju .
On May 18 , 1980 , Gen. Lee Hui-sung , the martial law commander , told Ambassador Gleysteen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not contained , South Korea ” would be communized in a manner similar to Vietnam.
” Given what had inspired the uprising , this statement was ludicrous , but it was apparently enough to convince Carter and his advisers that they were on the right course .
A spokesperson for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo , asked to comment on Carter ’ s policy at the time , said she had “ nothing to add ” to previous US policy statements .
Ironically , the CIA may have had the best understanding in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1987 , as anger was building in Seoul over Chun ’ s repressive rule , the agency informed the Reagan administration that Chun ’ s crackdown in Gwangju had led many Koreans to believe that his military was a greater threat to their security than North Korea .
“ A tarnishing of the military ’ s image—the result of its close association with the highly unpopular rule of [ Chun ] and the Army ’ s brutal suppression of riots in Kwangju in 1980—has convinced many officers that South Koreans have grown antagonistic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Korea threat , ” the CIA ’ s Directorate of Intelligence wrote in a secret assessment of the Korean military .
But only after the protests in the summer of 1987 threatened to create another Gwangju did Chun agree to step down and allow direct presidential elections for the first time .
Out of that struggle , and inspired by the Gwangju democratic movement of 1980 , South Korea ’ s democracy was born .
The Korean people did it again with the Candlelight Revolution of 2016–17 , which led to the impeachment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( the daughter of former dictator Park Chung-hee ) and the subsequent election , in May 2017 , of Moon Jae-in .
The real “ winners ” of Korean history , in other words , were the citizens of Gwangju .
But , sadly , they and many other Koreans had to suffer under military dictatorship for seven more years after their uprising .
Should the United States apologize for what happened in Gwangju in 1980 ?
The Nation put that question to President Moon in an interview in Gwangju three days before @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rejected the notion .
“ It doesn ’ t matter , because we have moved on , and established democracy for ourselves , ” he said .
An official in Moon ’ s Blue House , citing the “ government to government ” discussions going on about the investigation into May 18 , would not comment .
But given what we know now about US actions during Gwangju , the time has come for a formal apology , those who survived the uprising say .
“ They have to give a sincere apology @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is famous in Gwangju for his continued activism on the issue .
David Dollinger , the former Peace Corps volunteer , is adamant on the question .
“ When I think about Gwangju , I am brought to tears and am truly embarrassed by my government from that time , ” he says .
That feeling , in part , reflects his anger over being forced to resign from the Peace Corps after he went public with his critique at the time of the uprising .
An apology , he says , “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by an official of the US government kneeling to the mothers and citizens of Gwangju asking for forgiveness .
It should then apologize to all the people of Korea , for not listening to its citizens .
”

On May 18, South Koreans paused to mark the 40th anniversary of the Gwangju Uprising of 1980, one of the most traumatic days in their history. The 10-day revolt was triggered when students and ordinary citizens protesting a military coup by a renegade general were attacked by airborne special forces with a viciousness and cruelty that Koreans had not experienced since the darkest days of the Korean War. The documents Tim Shorrock obtained about the US role in the 1980 uprising are now permanently stored at Gwangju’s 518 Archives.
The armed resistance by Gwangju’s citizen militia liberated the city from the marauding troops. The townspeople, freed from decades of military rule, kept their city running, buried their dead, and transformed themselves into a self-organized system of mutual aid they now call the Gwangju Commune.
Those who died in Gwangju “believed that the survivors would manage to open up a better world” and “were convinced that the defeat of that day would become the victory of tomorrow,” President Moon Jae-in declared on May 18 in the city square where protesters were killed in 1980.
But their dream of a just society was snuffed out on May 27 by Korean Army troops, who were released from their usual duties on the border with North Korea to reoccupy Gwangju. The official death toll from the uprising stands at 165, but residents believe that more than 300 people were killed, with dozens still unaccounted for. Related Article How South Korea Triumphed, and the US Floundered, Over the Pandemic Tim Shorrock
Despite that defeat, Gwangju’s resistance is now seen as the first shot in the mass movement that, in 1987, swept aside a quarter-century of dictatorship to create one of the world’s most impressive democracies. After years of hostility by conservative governments and attacks on its legitimacy by South Korean rightists, the Gwangju Uprising is widely celebrated in art, music, literature, and film.
President Moon, who came of age as a political activist during South Korea’s authoritarian era, promised to give momentum to an independent truth commission that is investigating the Korean military’s use of force, including the question of who ordered the firing on civilians and sent a helicopter to strafe a building near Gwangju’s center. The commission, he said in an interview with the Gwangju affiliate of broadcast company MBC, would also seek to identify individuals who sought to “conceal and distort the truth” of the Gwangju Uprising. Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann
That’s a tall order, because that trail leads straight to the United States and its president, Jimmy Carter, who ran for office in 1976 vowing to make human rights the centerpiece of American foreign policy. Sadly, he failed to do that in Gwangju, sparking the worst crisis in US-Korean relations since 1945. What happened there stoked years of anti-American sentiment, and Gwangju has remained a point of contention ever since.
Geumnam-ro, where the airborne troops opened fire on protesters on May 21, 1980. (May 18 Memorial Foundation)
As some Koreans are painfully aware, the Carter administration played an essential role in Gwangju by helping the coup leader, Lt. Gen. Chun Doo-hwan, crush the uprising. At a high-level White House meeting on May 22 that we first reported in 1996, Carter’s national security team approved the use of force to retake the city and agreed to provide short-term support to Chun if he agreed to long-term political change (that, of course, didn’t happen until he was forced out by massive protests in 1987).
The stakes were high, and were exacerbated for US policy-makers by the simultaneous crisis over the Islamic revolution in Iran, which eventually brought Carter’s presidency down. As the once-secret minutes to the White House meeting show, plans were also discussed for direct US military intervention in Korea if the situation in Gwangju spiraled out of control.
Within days of the May 22 meeting, the US commander in Korea, Gen. John Wickham, released two divisions of Korean Army troops from the US-South Korean Combined Forces Command (CFC) to retake the city. Fearing that North Korea could intervene, the Pentagon also asked the Korean military to delay its assault on Gwangju to give the US military time to dispatch an aircraft carrier and several spy planes to the peninsula, according to 1989 testimony by South Korea’s martial law commander at the time.
Under that cover, Chun’s forces reentered the city and killed the remaining rebels. Hundreds more were hunted down and tortured in a military prison in Gwangju (it’s now a museum where former prisoners work as guides).
Chun was tried and convicted in 1996 of treason and murder, but he was later pardoned. To this day, he continues to deny any responsibility for the mass killing. In its official statements about the incident, the United States has consistently described Gwangju as a domestic issue for South Korea. “When all the dust settles, Koreans killed Koreans, and the Americans didn’t know what was going on and certainly didn’t approve it,” a State Department official said in 1996 when the White House meeting was first reported.
Carter, who has won global praise for his humanitarian actions since leaving the presidency, has never spoken publicly about his actions in Gwangju (through an intermediary, he declined to comment for this article). His most extensive remarks came in an interview on CNN on June 1, 1980, when he was asked by the journalist Daniel Schorr if US policy in Korea reflected a conflict between human rights and national security.
“There is no incompatibility,” Carter snapped. South Korea, he said, typified a situation where “the maintenance of a nation’s security from Communist subversion or aggression is a prerequisite to the honoring of human rights and the establishment of democratic processes.” Shamefully, none of this was true.
As two of the principal journalists who have investigated US involvement in Gwangju, we know there is much more to the story. Over the past five years, we have interviewed dozens of participants and survivors of the uprising as well as many of the US officials involved in the decision-making that May.
Now, at a time of growing tensions between Seoul and Washington over North Korea and the cost of US military bases in the South, we have uncovered deeper evidence of US complicity in Gwangju and what the US government knew and when it knew it. The story is much worse than we thought.
When Carter’s White House made the decision to support Chun’s crackdown on the rebellion, it knew that 60 people in Gwangju had been shot to death and over 400 injured just 24 hours earlier, and that Chun was directly responsible. We learned that from notes taken by a senior Pentagon official who was present at the critical White House meeting on May 22.
General Wickham, the US commander, was fully briefed on the Korean Army’s planning for the May 27 assault on Gwangju in a May 21 meeting with Gen. Lew Byung-hyun, the CFC’s deputy commander. Lew, in turn, told the US general that he was carrying out the wishes of Chun and the coup leaders. Wickham himself confirmed this.
The US contingency plans for Gwangju included sending additional US ground forces into Korea, a volatile proposal that has never been disclosed before and indicates how seriously US commanders and the Carter administration viewed the situation. If it had escalated, “we would have been much more aggressive” and asked for “additional support from the Pacific Command to suppress the unrest,” General Wickham told us.
The prime mover in the May 22 meeting was Secretary of Defense Harold Brown, who had been deeply involved over the previous three years restoring once-frayed ties between the US and South Korean militaries and strengthening the Cold War alliance between the US, Korean, and Japanese armed forces.
The Gwangju Uprising was the culmination of a series of events that unfolded in South Korea after the assassination of the former dictator, Park Chung-hee, on October 26, 1979. Fed up with 18 years of harsh dictatorship, Korean students and workers began agitating for a return to democracy. As tensions escalated over the next six months, General Chun and a small group within the military launched a rolling coup, taking over the military, the Korean CIA, and then, on May 17, the government itself.
Protesters and paratroopers clashed for 3 days in Gwangju’s streets. (May 18 Memorial Foundation)
“This might have been the longest coup d’état in world history,” says Prof. Kwang Ho Chun, a military strategy specialist and professor of international studies at Jeonbuk National University in North Cholla Province.
In the months before the coup, US officials, led by diplomat (and liberal icon) Richard Holbrooke, tried to find a middle ground between the martial law forces and the pro-democracy movement [see Shorrock, “Debacle in Kwangju,” The Nation, December 9, 1996]. “The United States had at least five months to support Korean democracy,” but failed, Professor Chun said in his interview. While the US emphasis during Gwangju on Korean security was understandable, he said, US officials should have recognized that “sometimes democracy can improve a security situation much faster” than military action.
In fact, as the rebellion intensified, Carter and his advisers began to see it as a much greater threat than Chun’s violent takeover of the government. The situation came to a head over a 48-hour period between May 21, 1980, when Chun’s forces opened fire on the people of Gwangju, and May 22, when the United States threw its support behind the Korean generals.
“May 21, 1 pm, was a very critical point,” Lee Jae-eui, an activist and writer who witnessed the massacre in front of Gwangju’s provincial capitol building, told us as he stood on the exact spot of the firing years later.
For three days, Chun’s paratroopers had used boots, clubs, bayonets, and even flamethrowers to terrorize the city, filling the morgues with the dead and overwhelming the hospitals with bodies ripped apart by the violence. Angered and shocked beyond measure, the people, led at first by young students and joined by taxi drivers, bus drivers, shopkeepers, gangsters, and prostitutes, fought back with vehicles and their own handmade weapons.
By midday, hundreds of thousands of furious Gwangju residents surrounded the paratroopers, who had made their stand at the old capitol building. Suddenly, and without warning, Lee says, the troops opened fire.
Repeated volleys from M-16s turned Gwangju’s now-famous Geumnam-ro Street into a scene of carnage. “I saw so many people killed, so many injured, with blood everywhere,” recalls Lee. “I suddenly had a very strange feeling, that I had to join the struggle to fight the military.” The massacre was indelibly sealed in Korean memory in A Taxi Driver, the acclaimed 2018 film starring Song Kang-ho, the beloved character actor from the Academy Award–winning Parasite.
In the hours that followed, Gwangju residents raided police stations and armories in nearby towns and grabbed carbines and other weapons, and by that evening had taken over the city. But tragically, as recounted in Lee’s famous book about the uprising, Kwangju Diary: Beyond Death, Beyond the Darkness of the Age, many of the fighters naively believed that the United States, as the champion of democracy, would come to their aid.
Then came the invasion on May 27. “The citizens of Gwangju felt completely betrayed by the US government and believed that US statements about human rights only extended to the right kind of people and not to them,” says David Dollinger, a former Peace Corps volunteer who was one of the few Americans who remained in the city during the uprising and spent time with the armed rebels in the hours before they were killed.
According to Dollinger, who now lives in London, Gwangju’s hopes for US assistance were raised when people in the city heard reports that a US aircraft carrier had been deployed to Korean waters. But their optimism faded when they learned that troops had been moved from the DMZ and were headed for the city. “By that time, they knew there would be no peaceful ending,” he said. They were right: The Carter administration had already decided their fate in the meeting on May 22.
“At that time, the belief [in Washington] was that 60 were dead and 400 wounded,” said Nicholas Platt, who was a deputy assistant secretary of defense and a senior aide to Defense Secretary Brown. Platt is one of the few people still alive who attended the May 22 White House meeting. During an interview in 2017 at his office at the Asia Society in New York, he pulled out a sheaf of notes he had taken during the meeting and allowed us to film him reading them; their contents are explosive.
At the meeting, Platt recalled, “Gwangju was the main issue.” Yet, judging from his notes and the official minutes, there was no discussion whatsoever about what the people of Gwangju had suffered. Instead, the entire discussion revolved around security. “There was unrest in Gwangju and the Korean military was moving troops in,” said Platt. “We were worried whether they would be able to restore order. There were units that had been moved from the DMZ and we thought that might lessen our ability to deal with the North Koreans.”
Lee, when shown Platt’s notes, was shocked to hear that US officials had such detailed numbers on casualties only 36 hours after the firing on Geumnam-ro. “That number was concealed by the coup leaders,” he said last week, and was not even known to the Korean public until South Korea’s newly elected National Assembly held hearings in 1988.
Hundreds of people in Gwangju were killed by Chun Doo-hwan’s paratroopers. (May 18 Memorial Foundation)
We also interviewed General Wickham about his meetings with General Lew, his deputy commander at the CFC (then, as now, the US commander of the CFC controls all US and Korean troops during times of war). Significantly, they met on the afternoon of May 21, within hours of the mass shooting in Gwangju.
“Lew and I met several times a day on Gwangju,” Wickham said in an interview at his home in Texas in 2017. The gist of his conversations, he said, were then relayed via “secure phone” to the other members of the US country team in Seoul, Ambassador William Gleysteen and CIA station chief Robert Brewster.
“General Lew was worried about Gwangju morphing into warfare around the country, and he wanted to tamp it down the best he could. That’s why he and I talked about how to do that with minimal force [and] what’s the best way to do it,” said Wickham. But, in carrying out the operation, Lew and other Korean commanders understood they were doing the bidding of General Chun and the officers who had seized control of the army in December.
“The coup leaders were saying we have to suppress this, it’s a threat to our coup,” Wickham recalled of his conversation with General Lew (in 1981, after Chun became president, Lew was named South Korea’s ambassador to the United States, maintaining his role as a key liaison with Washington). Brewster and Gleysteen sent the information from Wickham’s meeting to Washington in top secret cables (which we later obtained) in preparation for the White House meeting the next day.
In a critical but highly redacted report, the CIA declared that “the insurrection in Kwangju…poses a serious challenge to the Martial Law Command’s authority.… Violence has spread to about 16 towns within a 50-mile radius of Kwangju, all in South Cholla Province.”
While “trying to negotiate a cease-fire,” the military “probably will have to use force to end the rebellion,” the agency concluded, adding that Korean generals “would be hard pressed to deal with simultaneous uprisings of the same magnitude in other areas.” These words were repeated almost verbatim by Gleysteen in his cables, who added this observation about Chun and his martial law group: “The December 12 generals obviously feel threatened by the whole affair.”
Given the overwhelming focus on a military response, it’s no surprise that, as Platt’s notes reveal, Defense Secretary Brown was the dominant figure in these deliberations. This was a natural progression from his role as the chief US interlocutor with the Korean military before and after Park’s 1979 assassination.
Brown and the Joint Chiefs were in constant contact with the Korean military leadership, even after General Chun seized control of the army in his December 12 coup. As shown in Platt’s notes, Brown’s forceful views overrode others who were deeply concerned about Chun, such as Warren Christopher, then the deputy secretary of state.
“Chun has done real harm and set the process back,” Christopher said at one point in the meeting. His boss, Secretary of State Edmund Muskie, agreed, saying that Chun “could become a liability,” and asking, “Aren’t we going to be hostage to them?” When David Aaron, an aide to National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, raised the possibility of urging Chun to step down, Brown intervened. “If he goes that will create a vacuum,” Brown said, according to Platt’s notes.
Worse, the defense secretary even seemed to admire Chun and his martial law group. “They have been quite good about using force,” he said. With Chun clearly in control, said Platt, Brown’s Pentagon even established “a special channel” between the general and the Joint Chiefs of Staff through Gen. John Vessey, the deputy chief of staff of the US Army who had been the US commander in Korea prior to Wickham and knew Chun well.
For Koreans, one of the most enraging aspects of this meeting was Brown’s statement, as recorded by Platt, that Koreans would accept the administration’s support for Chun because “Koreans go with who’s winning.” Months later, General Wickham would amplify this thought in public, saying that Koreans were “lemmings” who would follow any strong leader.
Such comments reflect the predominant thinking among US leaders at the time that Koreans were simply not ready for democracy and would easily accept another military strongman, even after 18 years of dictatorship. Brown, who died in 2019, did not respond when we contacted him in 2017.
Brown’s official biography portrays him as a valiant fighter for Korean democracy, emphasizing his forceful meeting with President Chun in December 1980 to persuade him not to execute Kim Dae-jung, the dissident leader who would later be elected president. As for the White House meeting about Gwangju on May 22, 1980, the bio blandly notes that participants “decided that the ROK had to resume authority in Kwangju” before the United States could resume its pressure for liberalization. That’s an interesting euphemism for helping to put down an insurrection against brutality.
This traffic circle was the center of the uprising. Today it is known as Democracy Plaza. (May 18 Memorial Foundation)
This May 11, as this article was being prepared, the State Department, acting “in the spirit of friendship and cooperation between allies,” released several dozen newly declassified documents related to Gwangju to the Moon government in Seoul. Many were first released in redacted form 24 years ago, and most are fairly innocuous, apparently designed to put US policy in the best light possible. But one of the cables illustrates the kind of disinformation that the Carter administration relied on to make its decisions about Gwangju.
On May 18, 1980, Gen. Lee Hui-sung, the martial law commander, told Ambassador Gleysteen that if the uprising in Gwangju was not contained, South Korea ”would be communized in a manner similar to Vietnam.” Given what had inspired the uprising, this statement was ludicrous, but it was apparently enough to convince Carter and his advisers that they were on the right course. A spokesperson for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, asked to comment on Carter’s policy at the time, said she had “nothing to add” to previous US policy statements.
Ironically, the CIA may have had the best understanding in the US government about Chun. In 1987, as anger was building in Seoul over Chun’s repressive rule, the agency informed the Reagan administration that Chun’s crackdown in Gwangju had led many Koreans to believe that his military was a greater threat to their security than North Korea.
“A tarnishing of the military’s image—the result of its close association with the highly unpopular rule of [Chun] and the Army’s brutal suppression of riots in Kwangju in 1980—has convinced many officers that South Koreans have grown antagonistic toward them and complacent about the North Korea threat,” the CIA’s Directorate of Intelligence wrote in a secret assessment of the Korean military.
But only after the protests in the summer of 1987 threatened to create another Gwangju did Chun agree to step down and allow direct presidential elections for the first time. Out of that struggle, and inspired by the Gwangju democratic movement of 1980, South Korea’s democracy was born.
The Korean people did it again with the Candlelight Revolution of 2016–17, which led to the impeachment of another unpopular president, Park Geun-hye (the daughter of former dictator Park Chung-hee) and the subsequent election, in May 2017, of Moon Jae-in. The real “winners” of Korean history, in other words, were the citizens of Gwangju. But, sadly, they and many other Koreans had to suffer under military dictatorship for seven more years after their uprising.
Should the United States apologize for what happened in Gwangju in 1980? The Nation put that question to President Moon in an interview in Gwangju three days before his election. Moon, characteristically, rejected the notion. “It doesn’t matter, because we have moved on, and established democracy for ourselves,” he said. An official in Moon’s Blue House, citing the “government to government” discussions going on about the investigation into May 18, would not comment.
But given what we know now about US actions during Gwangju, the time has come for a formal apology, those who survived the uprising say. “They have to give a sincere apology,” says author Lee, who is famous in Gwangju for his continued activism on the issue. David Dollinger, the former Peace Corps volunteer, is adamant on the question.
“When I think about Gwangju, I am brought to tears and am truly embarrassed by my government from that time,” he says. That feeling, in part, reflects his anger over being forced to resign from the Peace Corps after he went public with his critique at the time of the uprising. An apology, he says, “should be done not through documents but by an official of the US government kneeling to the mothers and citizens of Gwangju asking for forgiveness. It should then apologize to all the people of Korea, for not listening to its citizens.”


thenation--2020-05-28--The Critical Role of Athletes in Fighting White Blindness

The question often asked is “ What happened ” ?
What happened to the kneeling protests against racist police violence that were staged during the national anthem by Colin Kaepernick and so many others ?
What happened to black athletes ’ centering themselves as critical voices of dissent ?
Were they stifled by Trump ?
Have they been silenced by the fear that they could be “ Kaepernicked ” and denied a right to make a living ?
Everyone has theories on the state of athletic political consciousness , but my answer has always been the same : This country @ @ @ @ @ @ @ violence , and it would just take one incident , probably caught on tape , to see athletes speaking out once again .
In other words , the question of whether athletes would make themselves heard would be determined by the police .
If they continued with their racist , violent ways , there would be a reaction .
We are seeing one right now following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis .
It ’ s not taking a knee , in the time of a pandemic that has canceled games , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an option .
Athletes have taken to social media to express their rage , and even some of the typical bigoted scolds on the sports media landscape have remained mum , at least as of this writing .
This eruption of athletic anger matters , because these athletes have massive followings of white fans who will now have to reckon with Floyd ’ s murder .
These athletes are puncturing the bubble that white people have the luxury of living in : a bubble in which they do not feel fear when they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a unique ability to reach those people , which is exactly why , since the days of Jack Johnson over a century ago , their platform has been policed so mercilessly .
One example is former NBA player Stephen Jackson .
“ Captain Jack ” knew Floyd and bore a striking resemblance to the man—he and Floyd called each other “ twin.
” Jackson spoke out in a series of posts , in one saying , “ Either you side with what ’ s right or you condone what ’ s wrong… you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ love my people.
” Many others , including Kaepernick and LeBron James , shared a widely circulated photo of ( now fired ) Officer Derek Chauvin on one knee , in the process of killing George Floyd , counterposed with Kaepernick peacefully protesting , also of course on one knee .
James also posted a story on Instagram about Floyd ’ s murder with the caption , “ We ’ re hunted.
” Also of note ( it ’ s only of note because so few white athletes have spoken out as part @ @ @ @ @ @ @ J.J. Watt of the Houston Texans said in a press conference , “ I ’ ve seen the video , and I think it ’ s disgusting .
I think that there ’ s no explanation .
I mean , to me , it doesn ’ t make any sense .
I just don ’ t see how a man in handcuffs on the ground , who is clearly detained and clearly saying , in distress… I don ’ t understand how that situation can ’ t be remedied in a way that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
I think that it needs to be addressed .
Strongly , obviously.
” Then there is Tyrone “ Tai ” Carter , a retired NFL player and Super Bowl champion who was at the front lines of the Minneapolis protests/police riot .
As professor Louis Moore pointed out to me , this is a major break from the role black athletes have played in the past , when they were used to quiet down protests .
Instead , there was Tai Carter saying , “ No justice , no peace.
” It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ break through the white bubble .
We are living in highly polarized times .
Income inequality has never been worse , and the powers that be—most specifically , a certain ( allegedly ) billionaire president—have ruthlessly used racism to keep people divided while the rich loot this country and continue the greatest transfer of wealth the world has ever seen without a coup or revolution .
It ’ s not just the white folks who bring automatic weapons to state capitol buildings while police yawn .
It ’ s the white people who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a “ non-racist ” with being an anti-racist .
I agree with the argument that it is the responsibility of white people to educate and confront other white people on their bigotry .
But if athletes can move the needle a fraction toward anti-racism , that is critical work , and it should be utilized and treasured .

Subscribe to The Nation Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month!
Get The Nation’s Weekly Newsletter Fridays. The best of the week. Email By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Fridays. The best of the week.
Thank you for signing up for The Nation’s weekly newsletter.
Repro Nation A monthly newsletter on the global fight for reproductive freedom. Email By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here.
Thank you for signing up. For more from The Nation, check out our latest issue
Subscribe to The Nation Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month!
Support Progressive Journalism The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter. The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter.
Sign up for our Wine Club today. Did you know you can support The Nation by drinking wine?
The question often asked is “What happened”? What happened to the kneeling protests against racist police violence that were staged during the national anthem by Colin Kaepernick and so many others? What happened to black athletes’ centering themselves as critical voices of dissent? Were they stifled by Trump? Have they been silenced by the fear that they could be “Kaepernicked” and denied a right to make a living?
Everyone has theories on the state of athletic political consciousness, but my answer has always been the same: This country is a pressure cooker of racist police violence, and it would just take one incident, probably caught on tape, to see athletes speaking out once again. In other words, the question of whether athletes would make themselves heard would be determined by the police. If they continued with their racist, violent ways, there would be a reaction.
We are seeing one right now following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. It’s not taking a knee, in the time of a pandemic that has canceled games, but silence for many is clearly not an option. Athletes have taken to social media to express their rage, and even some of the typical bigoted scolds on the sports media landscape have remained mum, at least as of this writing. This eruption of athletic anger matters, because these athletes have massive followings of white fans who will now have to reckon with Floyd’s murder. These athletes are puncturing the bubble that white people have the luxury of living in: a bubble in which they do not feel fear when they see a police officer. Athletes have a unique ability to reach those people, which is exactly why, since the days of Jack Johnson over a century ago, their platform has been policed so mercilessly.
One example is former NBA player Stephen Jackson. “Captain Jack” knew Floyd and bore a striking resemblance to the man—he and Floyd called each other “twin.” Jackson spoke out in a series of posts, in one saying, “Either you side with what’s right or you condone what’s wrong… you can’t love me and not love my people.”
Many others, including Kaepernick and LeBron James, shared a widely circulated photo of (now fired) Officer Derek Chauvin on one knee, in the process of killing George Floyd, counterposed with Kaepernick peacefully protesting, also of course on one knee. James also posted a story on Instagram about Floyd’s murder with the caption, “We’re hunted.”
Hall of Fame WNBA player Lisa Leslie weighed in, tweeting,
If anybody that follows me is not outraged about these senseless attacks on BLACK MEN, please stop following me! If your spirit is not disturbed, please stop following me! This inflicted Pain but it will never inflict FEAR… sorry, we[’]re not made like that! Current Issue View our current issue
Also of note (it’s only of note because so few white athletes have spoken out as part of the #BlackLivesMatter struggle), J.J. Watt of the Houston Texans said in a press conference, “I’ve seen the video, and I think it’s disgusting. I think that there’s no explanation. I mean, to me, it doesn’t make any sense. I just don’t see how a man in handcuffs on the ground, who is clearly detained and clearly saying, in distress… I don’t understand how that situation can’t be remedied in a way that doesn’t end in his death. I think that it needs to be addressed. Strongly, obviously.”
Then there is Tyrone “Tai” Carter, a retired NFL player and Super Bowl champion who was at the front lines of the Minneapolis protests/police riot. As professor Louis Moore pointed out to me, this is a major break from the role black athletes have played in the past, when they were used to quiet down protests. Instead, there was Tai Carter saying, “No justice, no peace.”
It’s unknown whether their anguish will break through the white bubble. We are living in highly polarized times. Income inequality has never been worse, and the powers that be—most specifically, a certain (allegedly) billionaire president—have ruthlessly used racism to keep people divided while the rich loot this country and continue the greatest transfer of wealth the world has ever seen without a coup or revolution. It’s not just the white folks who bring automatic weapons to state capitol buildings while police yawn. It’s the white people who turn a blind eye and confuse being a “non-racist” with being an anti-racist. I agree with the argument that it is the responsibility of white people to educate and confront other white people on their bigotry. But if athletes can move the needle a fraction toward anti-racism, that is critical work, and it should be utilized and treasured.


Breathing While Black

I still remember being held on the ground by police officers in Tallahassee , Fla. , and having my breathing impaired .
All stemming from a Caucasian woman officer who was scared when I asked a question .
( A scuffle had broken out inside an Applebee ’ s restaurant .
I was in the parking lot with hundreds of people who were celebrating a holiday weekend .
A female officer had approached the car I was in , as my fraternity brother had just left the restaurant .
The female officer drew her weapon on the car and asked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
When I gave her my ID and she ran my name , it turned out there was an erroneous warrant in the system .
I knew about the error and was in the process of correcting it .
But these things take time . )
When the female officer grabbed my wrist without forewarning , I asked her “ Why ?
” She mentioned the erroneous warrant .
Some nearby male officers immediately pounced .
Next thing I know , my right elbow was being driven up my back—by a large white @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And then several other officers joined in .
The Obama Center Leaves Chicago Communities in Its Shadow The maneuver was designed to get me to go to the ground expediently with little regard for anything else .
I remember wondering how not to let someone drive your head into the concrete ( with force ) when you have no way to brace for it .
I remember stepping on the base of the open driver ’ s-side car door .
To relieve the pressure from my shoulder .
As the ball joint @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out from the pressure on my wrist , which was near the back of my neck .
While attempting to make sure my body was contorting away from the aggressive officers .
If I gave in to the demands of the officers , my head would have smashed into the concrete , with the added weight of now five white male officers .
If they had succeeded in their aggressive takedown , my skull might have easily cracked .
Once on the ground , I couldn ’ t breathe .
“ I can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it several times .
People watching repeated what I said .
I remember a girl ’ s desperate voice exclaiming , “ You heard !
He said he can ’ t breath !
” The white female officer who initiated the event replied , “ If he can talk , he can breathe.
” I mentioned this same episode in the aftermath of Eric Garner ’ s death a few years ago .
Now I see the images of George Floyd , in handcuffs , choking to death as a police officer kneels @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to reengage the suppressed feeling of being helpless .
Face on the concrete and hearing the world fade , when your chest can ’ t expand on that same concrete that would have cracked your skull .
An African American fraternity brother on the Tallahassee Police Department watched the entire episode and didn ’ t do anything .
He just looked on in silence .
A week earlier , I ’ d been giving a lecture at the State Police Training Academy in Jacksonville , on “ Effective Community Policing Strategy.
” To @ @ @ @ @ @ @ required to read my book , Our America : Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago , to enhance their training .
I ’ d mentioned the erroneous warrant during my lecture and everyone laughed at the irony .
As did I .
During my visit I actually was escorted by the training officer around the academy and observed the very move : the wrist break and elbow up the spine .
Demonstrated by cadets on the wrestling mat in a controlled environment .
At that time , I already knew @ @ @ @ @ @ @ African American president on a personal level ; I eventually ran for the same United States Senate seat he held .
I also had the home phone number of the African American Tallahassee police chief , who was from Chicago .
While driving to the lockup facility , the Caucasian woman officer had the same entitled look as the Caucasian woman in Central Park who called the police on the African American man after he asked her to obey the law and put her dog on a leash .
I told the Caucasian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ died on the ground.
” With her eyes shaded behind police officer sunglasses on her insouciant face .
With not an ounce of empathy in her demeanor or voice .
“ You were talking , so you could breathe.
” That was 20 years ago .
Today , I ’ m 41 .
Married with a 2-year old son .
To g-d be the glory .
Following “ stay at home ” orders .

(JD Crowe / AL.com)
Subscribe to The Nation Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month!
Get The Nation’s Weekly Newsletter Fridays. The best of the week. Email By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Fridays. The best of the week.
Thank you for signing up for The Nation’s weekly newsletter.
Repro Nation A monthly newsletter on the global fight for reproductive freedom. Email By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here.
Thank you for signing up. For more from The Nation, check out our latest issue
Subscribe to The Nation Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month!
Support Progressive Journalism The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter. The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter.
Sign up for our Wine Club today. Did you know you can support The Nation by drinking wine?
I still remember being held on the ground by police officers in Tallahassee, Fla., and having my breathing impaired.
All stemming from a Caucasian woman officer who was scared when I asked a question. (A scuffle had broken out inside an Applebee’s restaurant. I was in the parking lot with hundreds of people who were celebrating a holiday weekend. A female officer had approached the car I was in, as my fraternity brother had just left the restaurant. The female officer drew her weapon on the car and asked us both to exit. We did. When I gave her my ID and she ran my name, it turned out there was an erroneous warrant in the system. I knew about the error and was in the process of correcting it. But these things take time.)
When the female officer grabbed my wrist without forewarning, I asked her “Why?” She mentioned the erroneous warrant. Some nearby male officers immediately pounced.
Next thing I know, my right elbow was being driven up my back—by a large white male officer, overreacting to her fear. And then several other officers joined in. Related Article The Obama Center Leaves Chicago Communities in Its Shadow LeAlan M. Jones
The maneuver was designed to get me to go to the ground expediently with little regard for anything else. I remember wondering how not to let someone drive your head into the concrete (with force) when you have no way to brace for it.
I remember stepping on the base of the open driver’s-side car door. To relieve the pressure from my shoulder. As the ball joint in my shoulder was beginning to slip out from the pressure on my wrist, which was near the back of my neck. While attempting to make sure my body was contorting away from the aggressive officers.
If I gave in to the demands of the officers, my head would have smashed into the concrete, with the added weight of now five white male officers. Current Issue View our current issue
If they had succeeded in their aggressive takedown, my skull might have easily cracked. Once on the ground, I couldn’t breathe. “I can’t breathe!” I repeated it several times. People watching repeated what I said. I remember a girl’s desperate voice exclaiming, “You heard! He said he can’t breath!”
The white female officer who initiated the event replied, “If he can talk, he can breathe.” I mentioned this same episode in the aftermath of Eric Garner’s death a few years ago.
Now I see the images of George Floyd, in handcuffs, choking to death as a police officer kneels on his neck, and I have to reengage the suppressed feeling of being helpless. Face on the concrete and hearing the world fade, when your chest can’t expand on that same concrete that would have cracked your skull.
An African American fraternity brother on the Tallahassee Police Department watched the entire episode and didn’t do anything. He just looked on in silence.
A week earlier, I’d been giving a lecture at the State Police Training Academy in Jacksonville, on “Effective Community Policing Strategy.” To new cadets. Who’d been required to read my book, Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago, to enhance their training. I’d mentioned the erroneous warrant during my lecture and everyone laughed at the irony. As did I.
During my visit I actually was escorted by the training officer around the academy and observed the very move: the wrist break and elbow up the spine. Demonstrated by cadets on the wrestling mat in a controlled environment.
At that time, I already knew the man who would become the first African American president on a personal level; I eventually ran for the same United States Senate seat he held. I also had the home phone number of the African American Tallahassee police chief, who was from Chicago.
While driving to the lockup facility, the Caucasian woman officer had the same entitled look as the Caucasian woman in Central Park who called the police on the African American man after he asked her to obey the law and put her dog on a leash.
I told the Caucasian women officer, “I could have died on the ground.” With her eyes shaded behind police officer sunglasses on her insouciant face. With not an ounce of empathy in her demeanor or voice. “You were talking, so you could breathe.”
That was 20 years ago. Today, I’m 41. Married with a 2-year old son. To g-d be the glory. Following “stay at home” orders.


thenation--2020-05-28--Depicting Those Lost to Covid-19

Depicting Those Lost to Covid-19

EDITOR ’ S NOTE : The Nation believes that helping readers stay informed about the impact of the coronavirus crisis @ @ @ @ @ service .
For that reason , this article , and all of our coronavirus coverage @ @ @ @ @ Please subscribe to support our writers and staff , and stay healthy .
During this @ @ @ @ @ the losses to be overwhelming and numbing .
I decided to use illustration to reflect @ @ @ @ @ by Covid-19 .
I ’ ve been posting my drawings on social media ( Instagram @ @ @ @ @ : @ stevebrodner ) .
I found stories of workers , nursing home residents , @ @ @ @ @ them , I discovered that through their eyes and expressions , we could perhaps sense @ @ @ @ @

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Nation believes that helping readers stay informed about the impact of the coronavirus crisis is a form of public service. For that reason, this article, and all of our coronavirus coverage, is now free. Please subscribe to support our writers and staff, and stay healthy.
This article appears in the June 15/22, 2020 issue.
During this pandemic, I have found the losses to be overwhelming and numbing. I decided to use illustration to reflect on the lives abruptly ended by Covid-19. I’ve been posting my drawings on social media (Instagram: @sbrodner; Twitter: @stevebrodner). I found stories of workers, nursing home residents, and others. By drawing them, I discovered that through their eyes and expressions, we could perhaps sense their personalities. —Steve Brodner