American history is rich and full of amazing stories.
It has told the tales of many triumphs in the face of adversity, and produced many figures to which we look for the precedent of structure in our society.
American history is meant to induce a feeling of pride and patriotism in its citizens, and thus leaves little room for question based on the information we are given.
What many of us tend to overlook, however, is the existence of the metaphorical “other side of the story.”
We read about significant events of the past in books and watch current events on the television, never questioning what we are told because the media has become our sole source of information.
AP Photo:
November 24, 1963, people gather outside the Washington Capital in memorial of President John F. Kennedy.
That source is regulated by anybody who can get into a position of power, or anybody with the means to control those in power.
Threats, payoffs and scare tactics are used to stifle voices every day in an attempt to shield the general public from a less than perfect picture of our nation.
If anybody wants to hide facts from the general public, all they would have to do is keep their mouth shut and silence those who are not willing to do so.
Great leaders, thinkers and overall visionaries have been gunned down at the expense of the alternative knowledge that they possessed by people who jump from unknown in society to household name once the deed is done.
Have we not taken the time to wonder where these people have come from? Who would want these extraordinary thinkers dead?
We have lost President John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. to American assassins at the peak of their progressive mission.
With credit to position, status, talent and drive, these men had the necessary means to change American society in a radical way. As progress occurred, it is highly likely that a third party was watching, hoping for their chance to end the movements.
Government conspiracy has been speculated about the death of JFK for decades now, with blame targeted towards the FBI, CIA, or perhaps outside forces; Cuba or the Soviet Union.
The notion that his death may have been plotted within the walls of the government buildings in our beloved land of the free certainly compromises the security that we are intended to feel under the government’s watchful eye.
Could the government have conspired against the very man who lead the nation through the Civil Rights Movement from the non-minority side?
A leader in a movement that was going to change our nation forever and bring it one step closer to a fair and just place to live, JFK’s work paired with that of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. to set the tone for a whirlwind of change.
As an upper-class white male whose family name has been beloved in America for years, it seems unlikely that Kennedy would have played a large role in the Black Power and Equality movement.
What we fail to realize is that he provided the forum for the leaders of the movement by supporting the change with no wish to silence the voices with the power to change the moral standpoint of the entire country.
As an integral piece of the puzzle at a time when many government officials wished to keep segregation and oppression of the minorities prevalent in America, Kennedy painted the target on his own back for those with the will to murder to maintain the prejudicial status quo.
His assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, maintained his innocence until the moment he was shot down in Dallas, leaving an open space to question if somebody suspected that he would bring the curtain up on the entire plot.
As a nation, we have accepted the death of JFK as a tragic crime carried out by a vicious citizen.
The need to question this crime and many others is necessary now more than ever, as a new human rights campaign for gay marriage has been occurring over the past decade.
Our President supports this movement just as Kennedy supported civil rights, and the backlash he has taken by citizens and other government officials has left him as an open target to those wishing to stop the ongoing acceptance and legal recognition of marital unions between people of the same gender in our country.
If we do not let ourselves be open to the possibility that Obama’s acceptance has put him in harm’s way, we will step a little bit closer to the downfall of equality and the downfall of democracy.
We are the change we wish to see, and we cannot let ourselves be conspired against.
Leah Mulroney can be contacted at lmulroney@keene-equinox.com