WALTER GHOLSON
Americans live in conspiracy
A general definition of “conspir
acy” holds that at least two
people plan to commit some
act considered evil. Conspiracy is a
very easy concept to comprehend, as
it relates to the plight of minority
groups in America.
However, some people would prefer
to think that any suggestion of a planned
act against these groups is, at best,
paranoia.
And if we accept this reasoning,
we must believe that there was no
conspiracy to exclude the accomplish
ments of the American Indians from
the history of America; it just hap
pened.
The systematic destruction of a
majority of the first inhabitants of
North America was not just happen
stance, with no active involvement
by those who said tWey “discovered”
America.
Similarly, this conspiracy theory
leads to the conclusion that the im
portation of Africans to America was
the result of a diabolical plot to en
slave them. The 300-plus years of
their inhuman treatment during the
slave trade was a well-marketed idea
that was conceived by Southern plan
tation owners.
According to those who balk at the
implications that two or more persons
planned these evil deeds, historical
facts should be attributed to misinfor
mation and misjudgmcnl, excused with
a simple “sorry about that.”
We cannot afford to accept igno
rance as the only excuse for a history
of genocide, slavery and racism that
still seems to find a forum in today’s
conservative circles.
The recent debate concerning
proposed revisions of the education
system to pay tribute to ethnic groups
whose history has been neglected in
American education has brought forth
all kinds of objections.
Much of this criticism continues
because of the inability or reluctance
of some scholars to accept well-docu
mented facts explaining the real story
of not only this nation’s heritage, but
that of Western civilization.
They often resort to publishing
pages of academic jargon that when
translated into standard American
English means: We aren’t about to
admit how we conspired to cover up
our war crimes against non-while
people.
Unfortunately, this seems to be an
American custom and a major flaw in
a country that boasts of truth, justice,
liberty and equality.
I ne systematic
destruction of a
majority of the first
inhabitants of North
America mis, not just
happenstance, with
gg active involve
ment fry those who
said they “discov
ered" America.
One glaring example of this char
acteristic surfaced last Friday night
on the Arts and Entertainment chan
nel in a show entitled “Investigative
Reports: The Men Who Killed Ken
nedy.”
In the premiere of this scries, Bill
Curtis hosted a program presenting
evidence from witnesses who, after
27 years, have ended their silence to
reveal startling information about the
assassination of President John F.
Kennedy.
For years, Americans have reluc
tantly swallowed the Warren Com
mission’s “lone nut” theory, which
says that one deranged man, Lee
Harvey Oswald, was able to fire three
shots in seven seconds, killing John
F. Kennedy as his motorcade moved
down a Dallas street.
Ever since the Warren Commis
sion’s anti-conspiracy theory was
announced, several questions have
been asked — questions the commis
sion never addressed and the Federal
government never investigated. Ques
tions concerning the known associ
ates of Oswald, such as: How could a
man with no visible means of support
travel around the country prior to the
assassination of Kennedy?
The answers to these questions
provide too much information sug
gesting that there was another gun
man in the same area. This new infor
mation would account for the direc
tion Kennedy’s head moved after the
fatal shot.
During the course of “The Men
Who Killed Kennedy,” Curtis inter
viewed experts who gave details of
altered autopsy photographs and fal
sification of autopsy reports. The
program also presented information
about the disappearance of important
evidence that was turned over to the
FBI by the Dallas police department.
In short, this program concluded that
there was a conspiracy to kill JFK.
In the same light, questions have
also been posed concerning the assas
sination of Martin Luther King, Jr., in
Memphis, Tenn., in 1968.
Last year PBS aired a special en
titled: “The King Assassination.” The
show posed questions such as: Why
were Secret Service officers absent
from the area during the murder? Why
was local police protection for King
called off minutes before he was killed?
How could James Earl Ray, a man not
known for his sharpshooting abilities,
accurately fire one fatal shot from his
vantage point?
Despite these lingering questions,
the American public has swallowed
an anti-conspiracy theory about the
King assassination, justas itdid about
the Kennedy assassination.
The same holds true for the co
caine trade in America.
Following an anti-conspiracy the
ory, we will have to presume that
cocaine finds its way into poor neigh
borhoods because there’s a large
consumer base there with a need for
their community to become violent
drug markets.
And, of course, we must reject the
possibility that two or more persons
planned these operations. We must
conclude that these conditions arc
wanted because these people have
nothing else to do other than take
drugs and kill each other.
Should we be insulted by the sug
gestion that conspiracy claims arc
only figments of our paranoid imagi
nations? No.
But what really gels me piqued is
the continued growth of a narrow
minded, misinformed group of people
who still live in isolation in an Ameri
can fantasy land—a place that seems
only to exist on the pages of the com ic
strips that have for centuries served as
history books.
America was discovered the way
robbers get money from banks. They
didn’t just happen to walk inloabank;
they planned their entrance.
Gholson is a senior news-editorial major
and a Daily Nebraskan columnist.
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