Re: Systemic violence blog for Nov. 1

I have to read all of Andrea Smith's book, "Conquest" for another class, and it simply enrages me.
When we were discussing torture in Abu Ghraib, Connor and Hannah both made excellent comments that made me think more deeply about Smith's book. Connor connoted our militarism to white privilege: deeply engrained, socially accepted and a system that actively and consciously must be undone through the rejection, awareness and pursuit of alternatives by all of us who partake in daily acts of violence. Hannah reinforced this, by commenting how the desire for violent revenge permeated all aspects of our culture, including country music.
Violence is something that is so central to who we are as a nation the only way to shock people is to add a sexual element. However, even this doesn't necessarily hold true- which not only confuses me, but further upsets me.
In Smith's account, women of color, in this instance, native american women, are somehow not deserving of the shock the American people displayed when finding out about torture in U.S detention centers. Part of me thinks America was only embarrassed that the international community saw our most base, crass systems at work. But here at home, nobody who "matters" can find out our secrets, our violence, our rape of land and people. Most American's do not know- few people in MN know that for a time, Fort Snelling was a concentration camp for the Dakota peoples. In so many senses, we are the white people of privilege, refusing to acknowledge we have consciously forced some to the margins in order to get whatever we want ("Manifest Destiny").
The fact that white men have total impunity in acts of rape against native women, and the formal U.S legal system stand idly by, only reinforces the messages behind Abu Ghraib: Domination, violence & hypocrisy truly is the American Way. Historically we have seen this, and our support of dictatorships and industries that promote Gender Based Violence recreate this ideology.
Today's discussion about gender justice drew more similarities to white privilege, do we all need to be the equivalent of "race traitors" and accept all of us in a privileged position play a role in the perpetuation of violence and militarism, regardless of gender? Those of us who are members of the colonizing group are all part of the system- what do we have to do to break it?!