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Martian Bureau of Investigation

Report on possible further attack

Galaxy: Milky Way

Planet: Earth
Hemispheres: Northern & Western
Country: The United States of America
I. Introduction
Your Majesty, after miscalculating the right coordinates of the initial target (it is still
beyond reason how I could possible make this human-like error. However, for this, I expect to be
punished accordingly when I return home.), I found myself in the Eastern hemisphere, in
Romania. But fret not, Supreme Ruler, as I have been able to make enquiries from here and I
learnt as much as I needed to about our target.
You need to understand that humans are different, in the way in which they tend to be
impulsive, but also passionate and emotional; reckless, but also wise. They have reason, but also
feelings and this is why we cannot fully understand their reasoning, because sometimes they do
not act according to the calculations. However, they do not consider themselves anomalies -as we
would do-, but this is quite normal for the human race.
Keeping in mind their strange nature, I strongly believe that an attack is an imperious
need, both for our culture and the American one. Throughout its history, the US society has been
fighting the enemy within. In other words, they have been fighting with themselves all along.
This is why I have confidence that once we attack America, they will stop fighting each other
and they will unite to defeat the greater evil, which would be us
think at the beginning

at least, this is what they will

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However, we must not begin hostilities against their nation, or as Martin Luther King Jr.
says, we must meet physical force with soul force (King, 218) in order for us to help the
Americans finally make Kings dream come true. Peacefully invading the United States will give
them an example of how they should coexist

regardless of gender and race

and how they

must not use violence even if they can. Realizing that we did not destroy their nation, even if we
could, this might show them that harmony is the answer to all their problems.
America deserves to be attacked, for it has been unjust to its people, sadistically turning
against its inhabitants over and over again, but it also needs a second chance for redemption, for
it has shown signs of resistance against inequality.

II. Violence as a Constant in America

a. Political and Religious Differences
The United States of America were basically born through violence, as the 13 colonies
started the Revolutionary War. Having its basis on this aggressive method of solving issues,
violence became a constant in the way in which the majority

of all sorts

reacted against the

minorities.
The first example of the inability to live peacefully together may be found in Nathaniel
Hawthornes writings: The May-Pole of Merry Mount and My Kinsman, Major Molineux.
The Maypole worshippers were depicted by Hawthorne as a gay colony, surrounded by
jollity and mirth, without a care in the world. They can represent the symbol of England, because
they were the ones who had kept pagan practices brought from England alive all this time. They
were the savages, the pagans, the ones who were still looking back at their European origins and
therefore, were not able to embrace violence as part of their identity. On the other side were the
Puritans, the ones who retaliated against the British Empire, the reformers and separatists. And in
this mere difference of beliefs laid the beginning of violence, a feud arose, stern and bitter on
one side, and as serious on the other as anything could be among such light spirits as had sworn
allegiance to the Maypole. (Hawthorne, The May-Pole of Merry Mount)

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Hawthornes scene of the destruction of the maypole can only reinforce the idea that
Americans have always been unable to accept each other and live together peacefully, even if
they had different beliefs. The Puritans destroyed the maypole of the worshippers not because it
would have harmed them in any way, but just because it was not something they believed in.
They did not respect the others culture and furthermore, they wanted to impose their own
culture upon them.
In the same note, in My Kinsman, Major Molineux we see the same rejection against
European values. Molineux, the governor who represented the British authority was awfully
treated by the people and this adversity toward England was extended onto Robin, even if he was
only a nave and innocent boy. In this case we see again another example of inability to coexist,
but this time violence does not target a group of maypole worshippers, but an authority figure.
Violence is also present in Ambrose Bierces An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, where
we find ourselves in the middle of the secessionist - unionist conflict, but most importantly we
can see the tragic outcome of this conflict, depicted in Peyton Fahrquhars death. Bierces story
makes the reader empathize with its protagonist. He was, after all, a slave owner and a
secessionist. He used to treat black people as they were not humans and to keep on doing this he
was in favor of the secession. Was he a moral man? No, he wasnt, but Bierce still makes us feel
bad for what happened to him. In this way, the author is actually criticizing the brutal way in
which the unionist forces reacted to Peytons behavior. And as Peyton represents the secessionist
power, we might argue that An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is criticizing both the
secessionist and unionist forces for even starting the Civil War in which Peyton Fahrquhar had to
die.
By nightfall he was fatigued, footsore, famished. The thought of his wife and children
urged him on.(Bierce, 6). Yes, he was a slave owner and a secessionist, but he was also a
husband and father and he was loved. However, this did not change the fact that Peyton
Fahrquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the
timbers of the Owl Creek Bridge.(Bierce, 6).
One might argue that the worshippers, Major Molineux and Fahrquhar are not necessarily
a positive example and they should not represent the heroes or the martyr figure. However, their

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moral or immoral status does not explain the incapability of acceptance that appears in their
oppressors. Furthermore, regardless of their appropriate or inappropriate conducts, there is no
excuse for the violence that was bestowed upon them.
Both in Hawthorne and Bierces stories the oppressor and the oppressed are Americans!
They cannot live together because they cannot accept that it is fine to have different religious or
political beliefs. They are far from understanding that acceptance, even though they do not agree
entirely, is ten times better than trying to impose our own convictions onto the other through
violence. For in this attempt people and especially the innocent ones will get hurt.
b. Racial Injustice
You might believe that after all the sufferance generated by the Civil War, the US may
have learnt their lesson, by trying to live in harmony, but if we turn to Ralph Ellisons Invisible
Man, we understand that things did not change very much. In this novel, black boys were
allowed to go to school, but this was far from stopping violence against black people.
A glove smacked against my head. I pivoted, striking out stiffly as
someone went past, and felt the jar ripple along the length of my arm to my
shoulder. Then it seemed as though all nine of the boys had turned upon me at
once. Blows pounded me from all sides while I struck out as best as I could.
[] A glove connected with my head, filling my mouth with warm blood. It was
everywhere. I could not tell if the moisture I felt upon my body was sweat or
blood.
(Ellison, 22)
Those boys were forced to fight each other only for the whites entertainment and only
because they were black. At least, in the other stories, the suppressors took the responsibility of
their violence, but now they may as well blame the boys for their aggressiveness. Humiliating
them into fighting one another blindfolded was not only an attack to their lives, but also one that
targeted their minds. Violence, once again, occurred upon people who were guilty of only being
different

in this particular case, having a different skin color

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And even though, in time, black people received equal rights, in the contemporary society
they are still discriminated, as we can see in bell hooks Killing Rage. Here she presents how a
normal life of a black woman might be like:
From the moment K and I had hailed a cab on the New York City street that afternoon we
were confronting racism. The cabbie wanted us to leave his taxi and take another; [] We faced
similar hostility when we stood in the first-class line at the airport. (hooks, 9)
Even if this is not physical violence, it is still a violent rejection that white people have
towards the black ones without any rational motive.
c. Police Brutality
Even nowadays

after hundreds of years of conflict and violence based on the

incapability of the American nation to accepts that people should not be the same and that
diversity does not mean rivalry

violence is a constant in the US, but what should be even more

shocking is that this violence comes from the ones who should protect the law and the oppressed.
Police brutality has become the greatest irony in regard to violence in the US, because the
ones who should respect the law and protect every citizen are actually the ones killing black
people. According to the Guardian, young black men were nine times more likely than other
Americans to be killed by police officers in 2015. And if this was not enough, the killings
happen also if the victim is unarmed, in which case, the police like to reframe the shooting as
being a case of suicide by cop, also stated the Guardian.
III.Resisting Violence
The United States were born as a result of peoples need for a change, for liberation from
the political system they were trapped in. They sought liberty and people came here to start
anew, but they ended up enslaving other humans. This is beyond our Martian reasoning, isnt it?
However, you may be surprised to find out that there were Americans who thought the same.
a. Abraham Lincolns Cry for Peace
There is one man whose name comes up very often in the American history books and
that is President Abraham Lincoln. With his vision on life and political matters he would have
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been a great asset to our own planet. He was the ruler of the country through their bloodiest war
(i.e. The Civil War) and he managed to abolish slavery. He had an enlightened mind, for he
understood that slavery was not moral, nor in line with what was stated in their Supreme Book of
Law (They call it a Constitution here.).
Abraham Lincoln did not wish for the war to come, being devoted altogether to saving
the Union without war, as he said in his Second Inaugural Address. Violence was not something
he looked forward to, talking about the war as being something that all dreaded it, all sought to
avert it. He did not gloat over the failure of the secessionists, as he did not seek power or
violence.
At the end of his Second Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln proposed the simplest, yet
the most profound advice: let us [...] do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting
peace among ourselves and with all nations.
b. Martin Luther Kings Dream
Martin Luther King is the most important figure I had in mind when I decided that we
should invade the US peacefully, because he is the greatest example that shows us how problems
can be solved through kindness, forgiveness and peace. His non-violent approach was the key in
finding the middle ground between black and white people.
He never stopped fighting for equal civil rights and even if he suffered and had been
treated unjustly for years, he did not retaliate. He did not respond in the same violent way as the
white people did, but he turned the other cheek, while still asking for the end of racism.
Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and
hatred. [...] We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again
and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. (King,
218)
If Martin Luther King, a black man, whose ancestors were slaves and whose family had
had a lot to suffer as a result of racism could manage to forgive all the injustice and look forward
to the day in which Gods children

black and white man, Jews and Gentiles, Catholics and

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Protestants

will be able to join hands, then we as well need to believe that our peaceful

conduct will help America in its process of healing its violence wound.
c. Black Lives Matter
After seeing that even the people who should protect them are biased against black
people, the young ones started a movement. Using the Internet
something Martians discovered centuries ago

you might remember it as

they reacted to all the injustice occurring around

their country. Their movement presents itself in a simple way: #BlackLivesMatter and they are
trying to imply that people are created equal and that a black person is as important as a white
one. And even if it may sound unimportant, the Black Lives Matter movement is quite the
opposite. It represents the Americans reaction to injustice and racism and this is a wonderful
sign that shows us that atonement is possible and that they deserve a second chance.
IV. Conclusion
You might think that after spending all this time on Earth, reading about all the violence
and injustice America has resorted to, I would gladly attack them and take all their resources, but
I feel that there is still a spark in their hearts, believing that all men are created equal. Through
our peaceful invasion, the goal is to make this spark grow bigger and turn into a great, collective
flame that will keep the USA united.
The fact that in every great moment of violence there was also somebody resisting it
through peace and that, however faulty, freedom has become an universal right, makes me
believe that America deserves a chance to grow and become a violent free country.

Raluca Teodorescu