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discntnt_irny_srcsm

(18,483 posts)
Sun Apr 15, 2018, 11:10 AM Apr 2018

On 6 April 1917 the US declared war on Germany but...

...later that same year 7 months and 8 days later a different war began. This different war was really one sided.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Sentinels#Occoquan_Workhouse_and_the_Night_of_Terror
On the night of November 14, 1917, known as the "Night of Terror", the superintendent of the Occoquan Workhouse, W.H. Whittaker, ordered the nearly forty guards to brutalize the suffragists. They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head, then left her there for the night. They threw Dora Lewis into a dark cell and smashed her head against an iron bed, which knocked her out. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, who believed Lewis to be dead, suffered a heart attack. Guards grabbed, dragged, beat, choked, pinched, and kicked other women.

When I think of political prisons I usual remember names like the Soviet Karlag or Insein Prison in Burma. About 15 years ago I drove past this sign 5 days a week on the way to work:


That place houses a museum now: https://goo.gl/maps/5EGLafHdkXE2


What kind of thing might it take today for someone to be considered an enemy of the state?
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On 6 April 1917 the US declared war on Germany but... (Original Post) discntnt_irny_srcsm Apr 2018 OP
Amazing, and thank you bottomofthehill Apr 2018 #1
You're welcome discntnt_irny_srcsm Apr 2018 #2

bottomofthehill

(8,364 posts)
1. Amazing, and thank you
Sun Apr 15, 2018, 01:00 PM
Apr 2018

I regularly drive past and think of it as the prison that DC sent so many young men to during the 70’s and 80’s drug and murder crime spree. I did not know of the other history surrounding it. I am usually driving by way too fast ( the speed limit is something like 45 or 50 mph) to try to read a sign. Thank you for calling it To my attention.

discntnt_irny_srcsm

(18,483 posts)
2. You're welcome
Sun Apr 15, 2018, 02:08 PM
Apr 2018


My take away: never be too quick to dismiss what a protestor has to say. Not all leaders are elected and not everyone elected is fit to be a leader.
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