Abstract
The spectre of another nuclear war seems to be on the horizon, and is at least a major rhetorical thread weaved into the discourse of global power currently. The psychological impact of nuclear war adds to the everyday threat of police violence, especially so for African-Americans (and all people of color) due to their unique relationship with policing. This paper uses a recent antagonistic quote from the President of the United States as a springboard to examine the histories of both nuclear war and racist policing in order to link them to present realities.
Manufactured, Taxpayer-Sponsored Protest
An unstable president of one of the most powerful nation states in human history absurdly berates minority athletes with a sexist curse combined with a reality TV show catchphrase that went like this:
“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out, he’s fired. He’s FIRED!’ You know, some owner is gonna do that. He’s gonna say, ‘That guy disrespects our flag; he’s fired’” (1).
A taxpayer-funded “protest” by the Vice President of the NFL player protest is staged (2) and the meaning of the kneeling during the anthem is twisted from malcontent with the social injustices of racism to an anti-country/anti-military discourse, and then anti-Trump as well (3). Meanwhile, an ESPN employee is suspended for suggesting on her social media a boycott much more tame than the fiery and divisive rhetoric of “the most powerful man in the world” (4) and the talented quarterback who started the original peaceful protest continues to sit blacklisted on the veritable bench even in a league where there is plenty of need for his talent (5). Piled on top of this domestic scrum for possession of the moral protest, the U.S. President faces the likely prospect of being tackled for a loss by his own team (6) due to his obsession with scoring more nukes (7) and securing a pathway to disaster (8). From the sidelines it sure seems like an individual can be afforded the freedom to peaceful protest only conditionally in the “land of the free.” Meanwhile, the National Football League has gladly accepted millions of taxpayer-funded dollars to perform displays of pro-patriotic militarism during halftime displays to both salute and recruit soldiers (9). In the analysis that follows I will be linking nuclear militarism to racist policing, and thus situating the historical origins of the contemporary events currently facing American professional football and culture.
The anti-knee protest discourse echoes the language and behavior of colonial slave patrols attempting to prevent black insurrection, except now it's to keep these “spoiled millionaires” in their place. “Who do they think they are, playing a job they love?!?!?!?!” is how the rhetoric can go. In addition, chattel slavery is channeled as well since owners (the word itself echoes being the master in the slave era in a league that is almost 70% black [10]) of teams, and therefore players, dictate how black bodies can protest their own disenfranchisement (11). With the President’s calls for players who kneel during the anthem to be fired, he is echoing not only the modern police and colonial slave patrol operations, but also the power of ultra-wealthy NFL owners to dictate the extent of how the players on their payrolls can peacefully protest social injustice.
“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out, he’s fired. He’s FIRED!’ You know, some owner is gonna do that. He’s gonna say, ‘That guy disrespects our flag; he’s fired’” (1).
A taxpayer-funded “protest” by the Vice President of the NFL player protest is staged (2) and the meaning of the kneeling during the anthem is twisted from malcontent with the social injustices of racism to an anti-country/anti-military discourse, and then anti-Trump as well (3). Meanwhile, an ESPN employee is suspended for suggesting on her social media a boycott much more tame than the fiery and divisive rhetoric of “the most powerful man in the world” (4) and the talented quarterback who started the original peaceful protest continues to sit blacklisted on the veritable bench even in a league where there is plenty of need for his talent (5). Piled on top of this domestic scrum for possession of the moral protest, the U.S. President faces the likely prospect of being tackled for a loss by his own team (6) due to his obsession with scoring more nukes (7) and securing a pathway to disaster (8). From the sidelines it sure seems like an individual can be afforded the freedom to peaceful protest only conditionally in the “land of the free.” Meanwhile, the National Football League has gladly accepted millions of taxpayer-funded dollars to perform displays of pro-patriotic militarism during halftime displays to both salute and recruit soldiers (9). In the analysis that follows I will be linking nuclear militarism to racist policing, and thus situating the historical origins of the contemporary events currently facing American professional football and culture.
The anti-knee protest discourse echoes the language and behavior of colonial slave patrols attempting to prevent black insurrection, except now it's to keep these “spoiled millionaires” in their place. “Who do they think they are, playing a job they love?!?!?!?!” is how the rhetoric can go. In addition, chattel slavery is channeled as well since owners (the word itself echoes being the master in the slave era in a league that is almost 70% black [10]) of teams, and therefore players, dictate how black bodies can protest their own disenfranchisement (11). With the President’s calls for players who kneel during the anthem to be fired, he is echoing not only the modern police and colonial slave patrol operations, but also the power of ultra-wealthy NFL owners to dictate the extent of how the players on their payrolls can peacefully protest social injustice.
Owned and Broken Bodies
Anthropology and the social sciences aim to situate events in their social context. While it is a few yards out of the bounds of the scope of this article, I cannot help but realize and share the absurdity of the current protest of the league from both the political left and right’s flanks. The NFL is a league that has a seemingly benign euphemistic genteelism of “protecting the shield” at all costs. One recent scandal that has threatened their institutional power and which boggles the brain is the claims that ALS and Alzheimer’s are linked to the NFL (12), with numerous stories published detailing the life and death struggles of retired icons of the game. There was also recently an NFL cover-up when, in 2016, the league backtracked on a previously planned gift to the National Institute of Health after the NIH refused to remove a doctor from the study who had dared to criticize the league (13). The Aaron Hernandez murders and eventual suicide in prison at the age of twenty-seven cannot be overlooked either, nor can the suicides of multiple former players (14). And only now is it time for a mass uprising against the NFL?
To the credit of its fans, television ratings for the league were down 11% last year due in part likely from the well-publicized accounts of domestic assaults perpetrated by players, including the brutal Ray Rice assault in a Vegas elevator as well as another active player beating his pregnant wife and viewing her as his slave (15). To be fair to the NFL, it is certainly not the only league or institution to recently drop the ball on handling cases of abuse. However, the fact remains that words without effective actions for positive social change are about as valuable as prayers in an empty backfield.
To the credit of its fans, television ratings for the league were down 11% last year due in part likely from the well-publicized accounts of domestic assaults perpetrated by players, including the brutal Ray Rice assault in a Vegas elevator as well as another active player beating his pregnant wife and viewing her as his slave (15). To be fair to the NFL, it is certainly not the only league or institution to recently drop the ball on handling cases of abuse. However, the fact remains that words without effective actions for positive social change are about as valuable as prayers in an empty backfield.
Gaining the Perspective to Dance
As an educator who fashions himself a sports anthropologist, the meshing of today’s sport and political climate is certainly riveting. However, considering how frightening the results of this “game” of nuclear football can be (and are daily for people of color in the United States), it is hardly the cause for an end zone celebration dance. Instead, it is more important than ever before to attempt to understand each other and heal old divisions of culture and “race” before the nuclear football is fumbled, much like the social problems currently plaguing the league. This article aims to connect the physical and psychological arena of racial protest and discord currently playing out in the U.S. today to the ever-threatening specter of nuclear holocaust during a World War III scenario by focusing on what we might call “the nuclear football”. I also hope to perform a crucial role by involving anthropological analysis and perspectives to two critically important issues of social justice whereby at least one is lacking in public engagement from the discipline of anthropology (see Brooks 2012 and Gusterson 2001 for the lack of anthropological attention to the nuclear debate).
Playing (and Dominating) Geopolitically
Was World War II for all intents and purposes the origin of the Cold War? One likely reason the U.S. dropped the nuclear bomb, even as the war could have been won without it, was to prevent Russia from occupying Japan (Zinn 1995). Korea, however, was divided between the Russian-oriented socialist dictatorship of the north and the right-wing dictatorship of the south drawn up by the U.S. (Ibid). Undoubtedly the line of scrimmage and political power play that was initiated then has continued to this day. For instance, the U.S. was apparently ready and willing to use nuclear weapons in order to secure the CIA-assisted overthrow of the democratically-elected government of Guatemala in 1954 (16). Uranium-rich African and oil-rich Middle-Eastern states also became U.S. policy targets to secure the post-World War II rebuilding of Europe and keep communism at bay while dominating global geopolitics (17).
Linking Racist Imperialism and Nuclear Destruction
What could white supremacy possibly have to do with the nuclear era? The atomic bomb was drawn up during the Manhattan Project of World War II by a capitalist government with the purposes of controlling global imperialism (18). Institutionalized, murderous racism was an integral teammate of the U.S. when the nuclear era was born, due in part to the persisting terror of the Jim Crow lynchings in southern states alongside white race riots in northern cities (19). Additionally, African-American troops were stowed on the bottom of the Queen Mary in 1945, on the way to the European arena of war in an eerie resemblance to the transatlantic slave trade centuries before (Zinn 1995). Thus, by the end of World War II the most prevalent and insidious theme of American history known as racism had blended with not only the imperialist conquest of Asia but also escalated the game to the nuclear level (Loewen 2008). What other reason is there for the Marshall Islands (won by the U.S. during World War II) being the scene of perhaps the biggest nuclear mistake, in Bikini Atoll during testing besides racist colonialism (20)? One news report quotes a local of the island relating that to this day local cultures are still being affected and are suffering from cultural loss (21). The U.S is certainly no exception to the rule of the nuclear link to environmental racism. Martin-Schramm has written that:
“In many respects, storage of spent nuclear fuel rods on the reservation of a Native American tribe could be viewed as the completion of a painful circle of death and exploitation. The vast majority of the mining and milling of uranium in the United States since 1950 has taken place on or adjacent to Indian reservations. Approximately 25 percent of the 15,000 workers employed in these activities were members of various tribes, especially Navajos. A large number of these workers were eventually diagnosed with diseases and other health problems caused by their exposure to radiation. In addition, Native Americans not directly engaged in uranium extraction and processing have been exposed to dangers posed by groundwater contamination, radon exposure, and pollution of the air via tailings dust. Studies indicate that Indians living near uranium mines face the same health risks as those engaged in mining” (2005).
The nation has also supported nuclear proliferation to select (European-dominated) governments throughout the world, from South Africa to Australia (22). As the current playbook on race relations and police brutality reflects, the terror of white supremacy is still running as a teammate alongside the psyche of black athletes in the NFL (23).
The anti-knee protest discourse echoes the language and behavior of colonial slave patrols attempting to prevent black insurrection, except now it's to keep these “spoiled millionaires” in their place. “Who do they think they are playing a job they love yet showing dissatisfaction with this country that affords them this opportunity!?” is how the rhetoric can go. In addition, chattel slavery is channeled as well since owners (the word says it all) of players dictate how black bodies can protest their own disenfranchisement.
Burton (2015) shows that ever since gaining their freedom, African-Americans have had to deal with being the ungovernable criminal. History proves that policing can never be seen outside the social context of racism, since it protects whiteness at the cost of black life; policing is always racial in the U.S. since the origin of modern police came from the slave patrol and master-slave ideology. Burton has written how the symbolism of policing slaves gave whites the authority and civic obligation to control and regulate black bodies. “Although couched in colorblind language, order-maintenance (policing) criminalizes black association, occludes black private space, and confines black bodies within a milieu of pervasive state violence” (Burton 2015: 46). In modern times the “order-maintenance” policing philosophy functionally leads to a “social cleansing strategy” for poor minority communities since it focuses on relatively minor crimes in marginalized communities (Burton 2015). Burton relates that in a 2013 study it was found that a black person is killed by the police, security guard, or vigilante once every twenty-eight hours.
Burton (2015) details how white supremacy has responded to the abolition of slavery and keeping newly freed slaves “in their place” so to speak, throughout the centuries, by creating slave patrols led by the police and KKK, and now are even extending into the fiery pomposity of the Commander in Chief of the U.S. In fact, the FBI has even been concerned with the infiltration of law enforcement by white supremacists across the country for over ten years, according to a 2006 bulletin (24). History proves in this sense that policing can never be seen outside the social context of racism.
The racial logic of “order-maintenance” police is repeated with the non-logic of nuclear-holding countries like the U.S. who believe that nuclear weapons are most dangerous in the hands of “Third World” leaders (see Gusterson 1999 for details). In both situations those in power say that the “other” are dangerous, when in fact the centralized and ultimate power that defines (known as state violence) is the actual source of the threat (see Sardar 1998 for more on the social power to define). Anthropologists are social observers of conflict and are well aware that the majority of violence in the twenty-first century has been intra-state violence; warfare within rather than between countries. The logic of both racialized policing and nuclear threats produces the disenfranchisement and death of marginalized bodies alongside the psychological terror of being “the dangerous other.” Both set the stage for a never ending threat that demands militant action must be taken to maintain national security. These are excuses for the unjustified use of a state’s power on its own people (25).
Similarly to order-maintenance policing, Masco (2008) describes how the nuclear era became a new way to discipline and shape a fearful public through psychological reprogramming to new social norms of state power and control. Both have real life psychosocial consequences.
The U.S. “...enveloped the earth in advanced military technology and colonized everyday life with the minute-to-minute possibility of nuclear war” (Masco 2008: 1). Just as the majority believe that being “tough on crime” pays (even if it is jaywalking and 90% of the time criminalizes only minority populations [see Burton 2015 for details in Ferguson, Missouri, USA]), so does the “Cold War Consensus” shape the body politic to be in favor of capitalism and militarism, and against communism (Masco 2008). Masco (2008) relates that defense intellectuals understood how U.S. society would break down along race and class lines in the event of nuclear attack, so to prevent this social fracturing and encourage psychological discipline the emotions of citizens would have to be harnessed and shaped. Nuclear terror needed to morph into nuclear fear through militarization. The over-militarization of law enforcement violence on an unarmed populace was the major critique that even white liberals had of the Ferguson reaction by the police (see Burton 2015).
In short, black lives are criminalized and have been ever since slavery; the change has come only in the form of how the criminalized black body has been managed by white supremacy. Similarly, both the manufacture, testing, and use of nuclear weapons has disproportionately impacted people of color across the globe. Of course, if you are not a person of color, the risks and fear still apply, but to a lesser extent more likely than not. We must all care to create the kind of world where we thrive and succeed, not just because it could affect us as individuals or as groups, but because it is ethically and morally correct.
“In many respects, storage of spent nuclear fuel rods on the reservation of a Native American tribe could be viewed as the completion of a painful circle of death and exploitation. The vast majority of the mining and milling of uranium in the United States since 1950 has taken place on or adjacent to Indian reservations. Approximately 25 percent of the 15,000 workers employed in these activities were members of various tribes, especially Navajos. A large number of these workers were eventually diagnosed with diseases and other health problems caused by their exposure to radiation. In addition, Native Americans not directly engaged in uranium extraction and processing have been exposed to dangers posed by groundwater contamination, radon exposure, and pollution of the air via tailings dust. Studies indicate that Indians living near uranium mines face the same health risks as those engaged in mining” (2005).
The nation has also supported nuclear proliferation to select (European-dominated) governments throughout the world, from South Africa to Australia (22). As the current playbook on race relations and police brutality reflects, the terror of white supremacy is still running as a teammate alongside the psyche of black athletes in the NFL (23).
The anti-knee protest discourse echoes the language and behavior of colonial slave patrols attempting to prevent black insurrection, except now it's to keep these “spoiled millionaires” in their place. “Who do they think they are playing a job they love yet showing dissatisfaction with this country that affords them this opportunity!?” is how the rhetoric can go. In addition, chattel slavery is channeled as well since owners (the word says it all) of players dictate how black bodies can protest their own disenfranchisement.
Burton (2015) shows that ever since gaining their freedom, African-Americans have had to deal with being the ungovernable criminal. History proves that policing can never be seen outside the social context of racism, since it protects whiteness at the cost of black life; policing is always racial in the U.S. since the origin of modern police came from the slave patrol and master-slave ideology. Burton has written how the symbolism of policing slaves gave whites the authority and civic obligation to control and regulate black bodies. “Although couched in colorblind language, order-maintenance (policing) criminalizes black association, occludes black private space, and confines black bodies within a milieu of pervasive state violence” (Burton 2015: 46). In modern times the “order-maintenance” policing philosophy functionally leads to a “social cleansing strategy” for poor minority communities since it focuses on relatively minor crimes in marginalized communities (Burton 2015). Burton relates that in a 2013 study it was found that a black person is killed by the police, security guard, or vigilante once every twenty-eight hours.
Burton (2015) details how white supremacy has responded to the abolition of slavery and keeping newly freed slaves “in their place” so to speak, throughout the centuries, by creating slave patrols led by the police and KKK, and now are even extending into the fiery pomposity of the Commander in Chief of the U.S. In fact, the FBI has even been concerned with the infiltration of law enforcement by white supremacists across the country for over ten years, according to a 2006 bulletin (24). History proves in this sense that policing can never be seen outside the social context of racism.
The racial logic of “order-maintenance” police is repeated with the non-logic of nuclear-holding countries like the U.S. who believe that nuclear weapons are most dangerous in the hands of “Third World” leaders (see Gusterson 1999 for details). In both situations those in power say that the “other” are dangerous, when in fact the centralized and ultimate power that defines (known as state violence) is the actual source of the threat (see Sardar 1998 for more on the social power to define). Anthropologists are social observers of conflict and are well aware that the majority of violence in the twenty-first century has been intra-state violence; warfare within rather than between countries. The logic of both racialized policing and nuclear threats produces the disenfranchisement and death of marginalized bodies alongside the psychological terror of being “the dangerous other.” Both set the stage for a never ending threat that demands militant action must be taken to maintain national security. These are excuses for the unjustified use of a state’s power on its own people (25).
Similarly to order-maintenance policing, Masco (2008) describes how the nuclear era became a new way to discipline and shape a fearful public through psychological reprogramming to new social norms of state power and control. Both have real life psychosocial consequences.
The U.S. “...enveloped the earth in advanced military technology and colonized everyday life with the minute-to-minute possibility of nuclear war” (Masco 2008: 1). Just as the majority believe that being “tough on crime” pays (even if it is jaywalking and 90% of the time criminalizes only minority populations [see Burton 2015 for details in Ferguson, Missouri, USA]), so does the “Cold War Consensus” shape the body politic to be in favor of capitalism and militarism, and against communism (Masco 2008). Masco (2008) relates that defense intellectuals understood how U.S. society would break down along race and class lines in the event of nuclear attack, so to prevent this social fracturing and encourage psychological discipline the emotions of citizens would have to be harnessed and shaped. Nuclear terror needed to morph into nuclear fear through militarization. The over-militarization of law enforcement violence on an unarmed populace was the major critique that even white liberals had of the Ferguson reaction by the police (see Burton 2015).
In short, black lives are criminalized and have been ever since slavery; the change has come only in the form of how the criminalized black body has been managed by white supremacy. Similarly, both the manufacture, testing, and use of nuclear weapons has disproportionately impacted people of color across the globe. Of course, if you are not a person of color, the risks and fear still apply, but to a lesser extent more likely than not. We must all care to create the kind of world where we thrive and succeed, not just because it could affect us as individuals or as groups, but because it is ethically and morally correct.
Object of Power
If you are looking for the ultimate symbol of power, you can find it in the nuclear football (along with the Russian version, named the chemodanchik, or “the little briefcase”) (26). Though the origins of the most powerful football ever created are highly classified, it earned its name from an earlier nuclear war plan with the code name of “Dropkick” and was first photographed in 1963 with President Kennedy, who put a lot of thought into how this great power could be protected from sabotage (27). The nuclear football is mostly a way to verify the President (with the help of the nuclear biscuit--a credit-card-sized plastic code identifier), help connect to military command and order a specific type of strike. Technically three football briefcases are in use at all times in different strategic locations (28).
Who Will Step-up to the Free Throw Line?
To top off the scoring crescendo that colorfully illustrates the links between the nuclear football and sports, there is a Super Bowl-sized paradox in the global political melee with Dennis Rodman. “The Worm”--the current U.S. President’s former celebrity TV co-star and supposed friend is perhaps the most likely individual to circumvent and (to use a basketball term for which Rodman excelled at during his playing days) “box out” the threat of nuclear conflict with Korea (29). The absurd irony of another renegade celebrity having influence over nuclear war is not lost on the crowd.
Takeaways
My intent has been to publicly engage the anthropological voice before and during the conflict (since admittedly the world seems closer every day, given the explosive rhetoric fired by “leaders” of the U.S. and North Korea), rather than afterwards. The aim is to help understand the current cultural crises we suffer from so that we can all heal and no one has to experience institutional violence. Here I have attempted to connect the psychological and political mind-frames of racism and white supremacy to nuclear annihilation, arguing holistically that their internal logic and social control mechanisms are eerily similar and spring from everyday forms of fear and terror. Let's not just hope but instead act, talk, interact to change recent history’s campaign of white supremacist nuclear terror. Let's put the fear of others (and ourselves) on the bench and activate compassion and empathy.
About the Author
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Ryan Dloski
Ryan has taught college anthropology to students in Detroit, Michigan and Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He has cross-cultural experience living and studying on three different continents, and currently teaches IB courses at Noblesse International School in Angeles City, Philippines where he lives happily with his wife and young daughter. When not teaching, reading, or collaborating online he is usually walking his dog with his family between the shadows of Mt. Arayat and Mt. Pinatubo. Follow Ryan on Twitter @RyanDloski [email protected] [email protected] |
Acknowledgements:
Special thanks to Do Truong Giang and Ben Parsons for helping to inspire this analysis and commenting on early versions. Jeremy Bell provided a thorough cleaning of my writing and analysis, so I really appreciate it. In addition, Stijn De Cauwer and Amy Miller made valuable contributions to the manuscript.
Notes:
1 This information was obtained from: http://sportsillustrated.com.ph/US/nfl/2017/09/23/trump-nfl-fire-players-who-protest-during-anthem, last accessed on November 3rd, 2017.
2 This information was obtained from http://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-did-pence-trip-cost-colts-49ers-2017-10, last accessed on October 10th, 2017.
3 This information was obtained from: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/eagles/2017/10/02/eagles-chris-long-nfl-protests-meaning-has-been-twisted/722163001/, last accessed on October 10th, 2017.
4 This information was obtained from: http://www.nj.com/sports/index.ssf/2017/10/espn_suspends_jemele_hill_after_sportscaster_calle.html, last accessed on October 10th, 2017.
5 This information was obtained from: https://www.thedailybeast.com/if-even-the-desperate-packers-pass-kaepernicks-nfl-career-is-over, last accessed on October 17th, 2017.
6 This information was obtained from: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/10/donald-trump-is-unraveling-white-house-advisers, last accessed on October 10th, 2017.
7 This information was obtained from: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/all/trump-wanted-dramatic-increase-nuclear-arsenal-meeting-military-leaders-n809701, last accessed on October 10th, 2017.
8 This information was obtained from: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/all/trump-wanted-dramatic-increase-nuclear-arsenal-meeting-military-leaders-n809701, last accessed on October 10th, 2017.
9 This information was obtained from: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/defense-department-paid-5-4-million-nfl-honor-troops, last accessed on October 19th, 2017.
10 This information was obtained from: https://theundefeated.com/features/the-nfls-racial-divide/, last accessed on October 19th, 2017.
11 I am drawing on Burton’s (2015) analysis of the evolution of modern policing for the basis of my holistic comparison here.
12 This information was obtained from: http://www.mdedge.com/neurologyreviews/article/73622/alzheimers-cognition/nfl-players-have-high-mortality-rate-alzheimers, last accessed on October 17th, 2017.
13 This information was obtained from: https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/05/nfls-concussion-cover-up/484016/, last accessed on October 17th, 2017.
14 This information was obtained from: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/21/sports/aaron-hernandez-cte-brain.html, last accessed on October 17th, 2017.
15 This information was obtained from: https://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/10/22/sports/football/nfl-domestic-violence-josh-brown-new-york-giants.html, last accessed on October 17th, 2017.
16 This information was obtained from: https://www.wiseinternational.org/nuclear-monitor/387-388/racism-resources-and-nuclear-weapons-some-reflections-rodney-king-case, last accessed on October 17th, 2017.
17 Ibid.
18 This information was obtained from: http://www.anarkismo.net/article/28250&comment_limit=0&condense_comments=false--actual source is in the comments from: http://www.anarchistagency.com/author/eric-laursen/, last accessed on October 17th, 2017. In addition, the same basic idea is discussed in Zinn 1995 (see references below).
19 This information was obtained from: http://www.anarkismo.net/article/28250&comment_limit=0&condense_comments=false, last accessed on October 17th, 2017. In addition, the same basic idea is discussed in Zinn 1995 (see references below).
20 This information was obtained from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/02/bikini-atoll-nuclear-test-60-years, last accessed on October 17th, 2017.
21 Ibid.
22 Ibid.
23 For related discussion see: https://www.thoughtco.com/sociologists-take-historic-stand-on-racism-3026209, last accessed on October 17th, 2017.
24 This information was obtained from: https://www.wiseinternational.org/nuclear-monitor/387-388/racism-resources-and-nuclear-weapons-some-reflections-rodney-king-case, last accessed on November 5th, 2017.
25 This information was obtained from: https://www.wiseinternational.org/nuclear-monitor/387-388/racism-resources-and-nuclear-weapons-some-reflections-rodney-king-case, last accessed on October 17th, 2017.
26 This information was obtained from: (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/real-story-football-follows-president-everywhere-180952779), last accessed on October 17th, 2017.
27 Ibid.
28 This information was obtained from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/22/nuclear-football-donald-trump, last accessed on October 17th, 2017.
29 This information was obtained from: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/sep/14/dennis-rodman-north-korea-kim-jong-un-basketball, last accessed on October 17th, 2017.
2 This information was obtained from http://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-did-pence-trip-cost-colts-49ers-2017-10, last accessed on October 10th, 2017.
3 This information was obtained from: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/eagles/2017/10/02/eagles-chris-long-nfl-protests-meaning-has-been-twisted/722163001/, last accessed on October 10th, 2017.
4 This information was obtained from: http://www.nj.com/sports/index.ssf/2017/10/espn_suspends_jemele_hill_after_sportscaster_calle.html, last accessed on October 10th, 2017.
5 This information was obtained from: https://www.thedailybeast.com/if-even-the-desperate-packers-pass-kaepernicks-nfl-career-is-over, last accessed on October 17th, 2017.
6 This information was obtained from: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/10/donald-trump-is-unraveling-white-house-advisers, last accessed on October 10th, 2017.
7 This information was obtained from: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/all/trump-wanted-dramatic-increase-nuclear-arsenal-meeting-military-leaders-n809701, last accessed on October 10th, 2017.
8 This information was obtained from: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/all/trump-wanted-dramatic-increase-nuclear-arsenal-meeting-military-leaders-n809701, last accessed on October 10th, 2017.
9 This information was obtained from: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/defense-department-paid-5-4-million-nfl-honor-troops, last accessed on October 19th, 2017.
10 This information was obtained from: https://theundefeated.com/features/the-nfls-racial-divide/, last accessed on October 19th, 2017.
11 I am drawing on Burton’s (2015) analysis of the evolution of modern policing for the basis of my holistic comparison here.
12 This information was obtained from: http://www.mdedge.com/neurologyreviews/article/73622/alzheimers-cognition/nfl-players-have-high-mortality-rate-alzheimers, last accessed on October 17th, 2017.
13 This information was obtained from: https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/05/nfls-concussion-cover-up/484016/, last accessed on October 17th, 2017.
14 This information was obtained from: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/21/sports/aaron-hernandez-cte-brain.html, last accessed on October 17th, 2017.
15 This information was obtained from: https://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/10/22/sports/football/nfl-domestic-violence-josh-brown-new-york-giants.html, last accessed on October 17th, 2017.
16 This information was obtained from: https://www.wiseinternational.org/nuclear-monitor/387-388/racism-resources-and-nuclear-weapons-some-reflections-rodney-king-case, last accessed on October 17th, 2017.
17 Ibid.
18 This information was obtained from: http://www.anarkismo.net/article/28250&comment_limit=0&condense_comments=false--actual source is in the comments from: http://www.anarchistagency.com/author/eric-laursen/, last accessed on October 17th, 2017. In addition, the same basic idea is discussed in Zinn 1995 (see references below).
19 This information was obtained from: http://www.anarkismo.net/article/28250&comment_limit=0&condense_comments=false, last accessed on October 17th, 2017. In addition, the same basic idea is discussed in Zinn 1995 (see references below).
20 This information was obtained from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/02/bikini-atoll-nuclear-test-60-years, last accessed on October 17th, 2017.
21 Ibid.
22 Ibid.
23 For related discussion see: https://www.thoughtco.com/sociologists-take-historic-stand-on-racism-3026209, last accessed on October 17th, 2017.
24 This information was obtained from: https://www.wiseinternational.org/nuclear-monitor/387-388/racism-resources-and-nuclear-weapons-some-reflections-rodney-king-case, last accessed on November 5th, 2017.
25 This information was obtained from: https://www.wiseinternational.org/nuclear-monitor/387-388/racism-resources-and-nuclear-weapons-some-reflections-rodney-king-case, last accessed on October 17th, 2017.
26 This information was obtained from: (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/real-story-football-follows-president-everywhere-180952779), last accessed on October 17th, 2017.
27 Ibid.
28 This information was obtained from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/22/nuclear-football-donald-trump, last accessed on October 17th, 2017.
29 This information was obtained from: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/sep/14/dennis-rodman-north-korea-kim-jong-un-basketball, last accessed on October 17th, 2017.
References:
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Burton, Orisanmi. 2015. “To Protect and Serve Whiteness.” North American Dialogue, 18(2).
Gusterson, Hugh. 1999. “Nuclear Weapons and the Other in the Western Imagination.” Cultural Anthropology, 14 (1).
Gusterson, Hugh. 2001. “The Virtual Nuclear Weapons Laboratory in the New World Order.” American Ethnologist, (28) 2.
Loewen, James W. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. New York: New Press, 2008.
Martin-Schramm, Jim. 2005. “Skull Valley: Nuclear Waste, Tribal Sovereignty, and Environmental Racism.” Journal of Lutheran Ethics. Retrieved from: https://www.elca.org/JLE/Articles/639, last accessed on November 5th, 2017.
Masco, Joseph. 2008. “Survival is Your Business: Engineering Ruins and Affect in Nuclear America.” Cultural Anthropology, 23 (2).
Ziauddin, Sardar. Postmodernism and the Other: The New Imperialism of Western Culture. Virginia: Pluto Press, 1998.
Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of America. New York: New York, USA. HarperCollins Publishers, 1995.
Burton, Orisanmi. 2015. “To Protect and Serve Whiteness.” North American Dialogue, 18(2).
Gusterson, Hugh. 1999. “Nuclear Weapons and the Other in the Western Imagination.” Cultural Anthropology, 14 (1).
Gusterson, Hugh. 2001. “The Virtual Nuclear Weapons Laboratory in the New World Order.” American Ethnologist, (28) 2.
Loewen, James W. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. New York: New Press, 2008.
Martin-Schramm, Jim. 2005. “Skull Valley: Nuclear Waste, Tribal Sovereignty, and Environmental Racism.” Journal of Lutheran Ethics. Retrieved from: https://www.elca.org/JLE/Articles/639, last accessed on November 5th, 2017.
Masco, Joseph. 2008. “Survival is Your Business: Engineering Ruins and Affect in Nuclear America.” Cultural Anthropology, 23 (2).
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Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of America. New York: New York, USA. HarperCollins Publishers, 1995.
