Several SurvivalBlog readers wrote in concerning the top note yesterday about CBS’ claim that Orlando was the “deadliest” shooting. CBS really missed the mark with that claim, underscoring the mainstream media’s inability to do even the most basic research and their inability to correct or retract bad information. This is by no means an all encompassing list, and the main reason for posting it is to underscore that the worst atrocities and mass killings were perpetrated mostly by government entities and/or targeting those least capable of defending themselves.
- The 17th century has multiple massacres against Native Americans that easily exceed the carnage of Orlando. Native American history is also part of American History.
- The Colfax Massacre (1873): White Democrats armed with rifles and a small cannon overpowered the Republican freedmen and state militia trying to control the Grant Parish courthouse in Colfax. Estimates of the number of dead vary and are hard to determine, due to bodies being thrown into the river, but are somewhere between 62 and 153. Nearly 50 were killed after being held prisoner for several hours.
- Wounded Knee Massacre (1890): Previously mentioned, and the number of fatalities is somewhere between 150 and 300.
- The Tulsa Race Riot (1921): A large scale, racially-motivated conflict where a group of whites attacked the black community of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Fatality estimates are between 55 and 300, though the official number was 39. Thirty-five city blocks were destroyed, leaving an estimated 10,000 blacks homeless.
- The Marias Massacre/Baker Massacre/Piegan Massacre (1870): The massacre of a friendly band of Piegan Blackfeet Indians by the United States Army. About 200 Indians were killed, mostly women, children, and elderly men. Fifty of the victims were children under 12 years old.
- The Mountain Meadows Massacre (1857): A series of attacks on the Baker-Fancher emigrant wagon train at Mountain Meadows in southern Utah by the Utah Territorial Militia from the Iron County district, together with some Paiute Indians. Approximately 120 men, women, and children were killed. Only children younger than seven were spared.
- The Davidian Massacre (1993): A siege and subsequent massacre of the religious group Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas by a joint operation of federal and Texas state law enforcement that resulted in the death of 81 men, women, and children. Video evidence exists of operators firing automatic weapons at the compound, keeping the occupants pinned down inside as it burned to the ground.
If you are of the mind that the military or federal government will never fire upon or attack its own citizens, this should be a stark reminder that it has happened in the past, is happening now, and will happen in the future. All that is required to gain the participation of military/federal/state/local authorities or any civilian individual is to demonize or dehumanize you as a target.
The only effective way to keep massacres like this from happening is to make it so painful for the perpetrators to continue that they lose all desire to continue. Fight back aggressively!
“Never give up! Never surrender!” – Tim Allen as Jason Nesmith in Galaxy Quest