Young WWII veterans shooting at the County Jail, the County Jail - site of the action, and a commemorative sign in Athens, TN.
Battle of Athens, Tennessee (August 1-2, 1946) - landmark event in Human Rights and constitutional history in the United States
In the battle of Athens, Tennessee, a small group of young WWII veterans initiated in August 1946 an armed rebellion against the corrupt county government.
The veterans did so in a county that had been thoroughly corrupt for a couple of decades, with a sheriff department and county courts practicing false arrests, false convictions, and false imprisonment, and county government that engaged in falsifying elections.
The rebellion was initiated after repeated requests for enforcement of the rule of law by the US Department of Justice were ignored.
The two-day armed rebellion ended with the disbanding of the corrupt county government and conduct of open elections for new county government.
None of the participants was ever prosecuted for the armed rebellion.
Given the similarities between conditions in Athens, Tennessee, prior to the rebellion, and conditions prevailing throughout the United States today, the case has major implications:
- Both then and now, core part of the corruption was/is a system, where individuals financially benefit from false convictions and false imprisonment.
- Both then and now, the US Constitution was/is not upheld by the US Government and the US DOJ.
- The general draft and the homecoming of the WWII veterans were key to the restoration of the Human Rights of the oppressed People of McKinn County, Tennessee. The veterans' role in the current civil unrest is steadily growing.
- Both then and now, winning honest election under conditions of government corruption was/is practically impossible.
Wikipedia's treatment of the entry for the Battle of Athens is not unique at all. [1-5]
Recent history of the entry for Battle of Athens on Wikipedia documents the censorship:
* April 12, 2012
The short entry was cryptic, and included a comment regarding 'missing information regarding the battle itself and the aftermath'.
The entry portrayed the rebels as drunk veterans:
- 'There were several beer joints and honky-tonks around Athens; we were pretty wild...'
Text was added, including, but not limited to:
- Once the GI candidates' victory had been certified, they cleaned up county government, the jail was fixed, newly elected officials accepted a $5,000 pay limit and Mansfield supporters who resigned were replaced.
- ...
- The general election on November 5 passed quietly. McMinn County residents, having restored the rule of law, returned to their daily lives... (Byrum pp. 232-33; see also New York Times, 9 August 1946, p. 8).
- ...
- The 79th Congress adjourned on August 2, 1946, when the Battle of Athens ended. However, Representative John Jennings Jr. from Tennessee decried McMinn County's sorry situation under Cantrell and Mansfield and the Justice Department's repeated failures to help the McMinn County residents. Jennings was delighted that "...at long last, decency and honesty, liberty and law have returned to the fine county of McMinn.. " (Congressional Record, House; U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1946; Appendix, Volume 92, Part 13, p. A4870).
- ...
- None of the rebels was ever prosecuted.
- All added text was deleted within 5 hours.
- The April 12, 2012 text was restored.
- The comment regarding missing information was deleted.
- The entry was locked, to prevent any changes.
- This page is currently protected and can be edited only by administrators.
[1] 12-04-13 Battle of Athens, TN (1946) � Landmark event in Human Rights and constitutional history of the United States (includes both Wikipedia and JFPO entries on the subject)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/89148019/
[2] 07-08-14 Wired - See Who's Editing Wikipedia - Diebold, The CIA, A Campaign
http://www.scribd.com/doc/47616724/
[3] 11-03-07 Judicial Corruption and Human Rights Violations in the US? Not on Wikipedia
http://www.scribd.com/doc/50219758/
[4] 11-11-24 Wikipedia on 1) Barack Obama, and 2) #Occupy a propaganda tool of the corporate-government complex
http://www.scribd.com/doc/73681805/
[5] 11-12-02 Wikipedia as a Propaganda Tool Posse Comitatus Act (1878) and current martial law in the United States.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/74572860/
______
Boycott the US presidential vote! It only legitimizes the illegitimate...
11-12-10 Where Should #Occupy Go Next? Civil Disobedience in the Footsteps of Thoreau and Gandhi!
http://www.scribd.com/doc/75348301/
Secede! The US in its current form is simply unmanageable...
12-01-01 Secession - A Smart Business Move!
http://www.scribd.com/doc/76877453/
1 comment:
I saw this on the OWS web page several weeks ago and was surprised. I live in Denver now but grew up in that little town in east TN (Athens) where this took place and remember many of the folks that were involved in this when I was growing up in the 50s and 60s. The comments that were added (then deleted) were correct and there has been a few books written on this as well. The Daily Post Athenian is the newspaper in that town and seems that they should have those available if they were requested to support the effort to correct the information. Amazing how the efforts of a relatively small group of former GIs were able to turn things around! Thanks for sharing that.
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