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Dear Progressive Reader,

This newsletter comes between two tragic anniversaries of United States foreign policy. March 24 is the forty-first anniversary of the assassination of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero by members of a U.S.-supported death squad. Romero was named by Pope Francis ([link removed]) in 2018 as the first saint born in Central America. Writing for our Progressive Media Project ([link removed]) in 2015, Randy Jurado Ertil noted ([link removed]) , “Romero taught us all an invaluable lesson: He stood up to bullies and he did not turn his back on his people.” In the afterword for a book ([link removed]) by human rights attorney Matt Eisenbrandt on the efforts to bring Romero’s killers to justice, Benjamin Cuéllar of the Jesuit University of Central America
said ([link removed]) , “We still must build a force of good: one that comes from the people.”

Last Tuesday marked the fifty-third anniversary of the massacre of 504 civilians in My Lai, Vietnam, by U.S. troops. I wrote about the fiftieth anniversary commemoration ([link removed]) and the efforts to address our responsibility for the tragedy in The Progressive in 2018.

On the morning of March 16, 1968, U.S. troops under the command of Lieutenant William Laws Calley Jr. were told ([link removed]) to “kill everything that breathes.” Journalist Seymour Hersh was the first ([link removed]) to break the story in the national press in November 1969. In his 2018 memoir ([link removed]) , he relates the story of tracking down Calley for an interview on an army base in Georgia.

It was the voice of Ron Ridenhour that firstlifted the case out of the shadows ([link removed]) of an attempted military cover-up. Ridenhour had served in an infantry unit in Vietnam near My Lai, and knew some of the soldiers who had served under Calley. When they told him what had happened, he was shocked. “I just couldn't believe that not only had so many young American men participated in such an act of barbarism, but that their officers had ordered it,” he wrote in a letter ([link removed]) to his Congressional representative Morris Udall and others in Washington. It led to a national investigation and a public reckoning that continues today.

In December 1994, at a conference ([link removed]) organized in New Orleans to look back at some of the lessons of My Lai, Ridenhour presciently said ([link removed]) , “I am also reminded, however, that some people have witnessed the same sort of thing in police work. The guys go through the academy, but as soon as they hit the street, the officer in the car who is breaking them in says: ‘Forget the book, I’m going to teach you how it really works.’ ” This message reverberates today as the United States reckons with the number of African Americans, many unarmed ([link removed]) , who are routinely killed by police.

Sarah Lahm wrote last week ([link removed]) about the beginning of the Minneapolis trial of Derek Chauvin, accused of the murder of George Floyd. But many of these killings are never prosecuted in a court of law. Just as Hersh had told Ridenhour in 1969, “until this story became public, the army had absolutely no intent whatsoever to pursue other officers [beyond the designated scapegoat, Lieutenant Calley].”

In other stories on our website this week, Bill Blum looks at ([link removed]) the 1871 anti-Klan law being used in cases being brought against Donald Trump and others for fueling the January 6 Capitol insurrection. (Blum’s review ([link removed]) of a new book of the writings of the late-Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg from our February/March issue was also featured ([link removed]) on the prestigious SCOTUSblog this week). Arvid Dilawar presents a shocking investigation ([link removed]) into health risks at a West Virgina medical center. And Christine M. Estel chronicles the life ([link removed]) of nineteenth century pioneering women’s rights advocate Dr. Mary Edwards Walker. Finally, cartoonist Mark
Fiore offers a humorous look ([link removed]) at how to encourage the nearly 50 percent of Republican men who refuse the vaccine to take their jabs. (The Republican Party may otherwise go down the path of the tobacco industry, promoting a product that results in the sickness and death of their own adherents.)

Tomorrow, I hope to tune in to “The Cold War Truth Commission: A Day of Education Testimonials, & Action ([link removed]) ,” sponsored by Witness for Peace Southwest, Addicted to War, CODEPINK, Project Censored, and many more, and featuring an outstanding line-up of writers and activists. The event runs live on Zoom on Sunday, March 21, from 1:00-8:00 p.m. Pacific Time, and anyone interested in attending all or part of the presentations can register here ([link removed]) .

Also, if you are looking for book to read, or a gift to give, check out the new additions to our online giftshop ([link removed]) . A donation in support of The Progressive could get you an interesting book as our thank you for your support of this non-profit magazine.

Keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.

Sincerely,
Norman Stockwell
Publisher

P.S. – Our new February/March issue is off the presses and out in the mail. If you don’t already subscribe to The Progressive in print or digital form, please consider doing so today ([link removed]) . Also, if you have a friend or relative that you feel should hear from the many voices for progressive change within our pages, please consider giving a gift subscription ([link removed]) .

P.P.P.S. –We need you now more than ever. Please take a moment to support hard-hitting, independent reporting on issues that matter to you. Your donation today will keep us on solid ground and will help us continue to grow in the coming years. You can use the wallet envelope in the current issue of the magazine, or click on the “Donate” button below to join your fellow progressives in sustaining The Progressive as a voice for peace, social justice, and the common good.
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