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Carlos Cruz

Dr. Nathalie Nya

Philosophy of Race & Racism

15 May 2017

Extremism: A Direct Result of Institutionalized Violence

Growing up a first-generation American of Salvadoran immigrants, Ive always had an

immense amount of curiosity about what exactly my parents had gone through to influence them

to immigrate here to the United States. A multitude of factors played into their decision, but the

one that stuck out from the rest was the immense amount of violence the plagued the country

during wartimes under an authoritarian-militaristic regime. My parents were only two of the

many immigrants that fled the country seeking refuge from catastrophe. Comparing this fact with

modern times, it reminded me of a similar situation in the Middle East, specifically in Syria. The

Assad regime was deemed responsible for the murder of many innocent lives in Syria, causing

Syrians to flee the country and seek refuge in the United States. Looking at the two

geographically differing situations, I found there are hardly any differences between why so

much violence exists in Central American and Middle Eastern regions. U.S. intervention,

oppression of a vulnerable class(es) of people, and the development of extremism are a direct

result or have contributed to the institutionalized violence that have caused these regions to

crumble.

The year 1980, a deadly civil war broke out in El Salvador where violence took the lives

of many innocent people just for being in the way of the battlepaths. Sanctuary was scarce during

the war and the peasants of El Salvador needed some sort of safe haven to get away from the hell

being raised in their homeland by the military. Churches were looked towards since almost all
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hope was lost when it came to surviving the war, because of this the military targeted Catholic

priests specifically since it was the states belief that revolution was being brewed through the

church.

Before he was killed, Archbishop Oscar Romero was in charge of managing all of the

churches in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador. Originally, he began as a conservative

figure valuing the separation of church and state (Right to Truth). He even catered more towards

the elite class for blessings and church services instead of paying attention to the lower class and

their needs as parishioners and members of the Catholic Church. The congregation of Salvadoran

bishops elected Romero to be Archbishop because of his passive views towards social conflict.

The intention here was to prevent any sort of fuel for a potential uprising by the peasant class.

However, many of Romeros closest friends deemed themselves socialists and chose to fight

alongside the oppressed innocents of El Salvador. Father Rutilio Grande, Romeros best friend,

was killed trying to escort a van of citizens to the capital on their way to vote for the upcoming

presidential elections. It was then that Romero converted his original views to aligning with the

oppressed, doing whatever he could to make sure the violence in El Salvador had extinguished as

much as possible. (Kelly)

The war did not start for any random reason, the state desired to become more of a

capitalist society due to the fact that 95% of the countrys income was based on exporting coffee

(Kane). However, with such a large number of the economy depending on this one crop, the

countrys wealth was distributed to only 2% of the population. Resulting in a peasant uprising in

1932 led by socialist revolutionary, Farabundo Marti. Since socialism and capitalism dont

necessarily get along in the greatest manner, the Salvadoran military responded in a manner that

would be named La Matanza, which took the lives of 30,000 indigenous people or anyone that
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looked like they could be a peasant (Kane). This relates directly to the original hierarchy of most

colonized Latin American countries when occupied by the Spanish conquistadors.

The phenomenon of a racial hierarchy divides the allocation of power based on the

concept of race. Colorism has always played a large part in the development of modern Latin

American society. The common trend amongst Latin American countries--including El Salvador-

-allowed the peninsulares, or Spanish-born immigrants living on Latin American soil, were

placed at the top of the racial hierarchy. Following them were the criollos, or Spanish

descendants born on Latin American soil; then mestizos, people with Spanish and indigenous

genetics; followed by indios, people native to the Latin American land; and finally negros, or

African peoples brought over for slavery or also indigenous to the land occupied by Spanish

conquistadors. (Latin America)

This system established races used by the Spanish settlers to allocate power amongst the

different types of people already living on the land they invaded and the future generations yet to

be born. The racial caste-like system has hardly diminished over the years especially in Central

American countries like El Salvador. This type of generational norm passed down after so many

years provided a justification for the military to take the lives of 30,000 indigenous people in

response to the peasant uprising since historically, indigenous people were always mistreated and

shoved towards the bottom when considering the preservation of human rights or allocation of

power. La Matanza was a result of an established hierarchy of power based on race. This also

would set the tone for the type of society that would surround peasants in El Salvador for years

to come setting the tone for the civil war that would tear the country apart for years down the

line.
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What would ultimately escalate the war to extreme levels of violence would be the

assassination of Archbishop Romero and the massacre at El Mozote, a small peasant town.

Romero was notorious for immersing himself with the peasant lifestyle after Grandes death. He

would desire to bring religion to the communities that were impoverished of it. The Church was

very important to the poorer communities so, Romero made it a priority to use his time during

his sermons to speak the needs of the peasants since he knew the state was also listening in on

him for religious purposes or maybe even surveillance purposes as well. Romeros last sermon

on March 14, 1980, he spoke against the oppression the military was inflicting on Salvadorans,

I would like to make a special appeal to the men of the army, and specifically to the

ranks of the National Guard, the police and the military. Brothers, you come from our

own people. You are killing your own brother peasants when any human order to kill

must be subordinate to the law of God which says, "Thou shalt not kill." No soldier is

obliged to obey an order contrary to the law of God...It is high time you recovered your

consciences and obeyed your consciences rather than a sinful order. We want the

government to face the fact that reforms are valueless if they are to be carried out at the

cost of so much blood. In the name of God, in the name of this suffering people whose

cries rise to heaven more loudly each day, I implore you, I beg you, I order you in the

name of God: stop the repression. (Romero)

10 days later, Romero would be assassinated during a private service for nuns he was

serving alongside with. He was shot in the heart and died instantly. Since then, violence quickly

escalated into a war that would seemingly never end. Creating for an extremely violent and

unsafe society for poor, impoverished, and indigenous Salvadoran citizens. The military would

adopt an agenda that would be accepting of wiping out any sort of town or village said or
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suspected of supporting rebel forces. One year after the assassination of Oscar Romero, a killing

at a town named El Mozote occurred which took the lives of 1,000 women and children (El

Salvador).

All of these efforts were backed by the United States. The political agenda of the United

States was to protect and preserve the ideals of a capitalist society wherever the opportunity is

present. With the militaristic regime desiring to adopt capitalist ideas from the United States and

apply it to coffee exportations, it was easy for presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan to

support their agenda. Both presidents actively ignored the military sponsored death squads and

massacres that took place in El Salvador. It wasnt until after the war where these tragedies were

recognized by the American state. President Carter supported the regime until four U.S.

missionaries were raped and killed, three of which from Cleveland, Ohio. Until that point, Carter

channeled firearms and American troops to train Salvadoran troops on how to use the weapons

as well as battle tactics for them to use against the rebels (Kane).

President Reagan prioritized re-establishing support to El Salvador when he took office

after Carter. He channeled more weapons to the military since Cuba was now supporting the

rebel forces, feeding into the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. The

United States never ceased support for the military and has supported the regime until the very

conclusion of the war in 1992. The treaty between the rebels and the military allowed the rebels

to be pardoned since the military contributed to the majority of deaths throughout the civil war.

85% of all deaths were accredited to the military, allowing the rebel forces to become a political

party (Truth Commission). They named their political party Farabundo Marti National

Liberation Front or FMLN, after Farabundo Marti, the socialist revolutionary killed during La

Matanza in 1932. The FMLN is the party in power today in El Salvador.

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United States-backed murders by the Salvadoran military created a large divide between

the already segregated society in El Salvador. The racist-caste system in El Salvador had existed

since the Spanish settled on indigenous land and was further perpetuated by a country who also

adopted a similar plan in its origins. The violence allowed for the Salvadoran military to

capitalize on the already-oppressed peasants and indigenous tribes that inhabited the rural areas

of the country, causing many people to flee the country seeking refuge. The Salvadoran Civil

War may have ended, but its effects outside of its borders had barely begun.

Going back to why my parents decided to leave the country, they told me the story of

how they met, how their friends were escorted out of their elementary school classrooms to

either be executed or forced into childhood military training, and the assassination of Romero.

That was only the beginning though. Before my parents decided to come to Ohio, they actually

tried to settle down in Los Angeles, California.

The effects of the war can clearly be seen today in the media. Migrants are being

apprehended at the borders to be detained at overpopulated detention centers. Most of these

migrants are women and children, searching for a better life apart from what they left behind in

their home country. Others being forced away from the home they once knew, now torn by

violence. A modern group named MS-13 finds its origins domestically in Los Angeles. They

began as a regular street gang started by young Salvadoran immigrants looking for a place to fit

in a primarily Mexican and African-American community in East LA. They were not accepted

originally by their peers since culturally, they were vastly different than their counterparts. This

only strengthened the gang to stick closer together. But with gangs comes a demand of respect

and the way gangs demand respect is by vandalism or waging gang wars with competitors.
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Many of these young migrants were already familiar with fighting and guerilla warfare after

fleeing El Salvador during the civil war so this only escalated the strength of MS-13.

Eventually, the MS-13 gang members were targeted by local law enforcement officials to

be detained in prisons. Those that we undocumented were still kept in prison until legislation was

passed by president Clinton that would prioritize the deportation of MS-13 gang members. They

would be deported back to a post-war society in which they were also not accepted amongst

Salvadorans since they were mostly assimilated to United States customs. The same philosophy

of sticking together was applied by the MS-13 members which allowed them to run rampant

across all parts of the country they once knew as home (Lopez). Those members who were

originally a part of FMLN rebel forces established a political agenda within MS-13 to take

back the country that has not changed under the FMLN political party. It is understood amongst

MS-13 members that the Salvadoran state has not changed at all under the FMLN political party.

MS-13 in El Salvador believes the FMLN has failed the lower classes of El Salvador,

perpetuating the problems that have existed prior to the war of 1980 (Hernndez).

Parallels can be seen amongst the war times of yesterday and the gang times of today.

Police forces are chasing MS-13 members and invading neighborhoods controlled by the gangs,

executing anyone who may be in relations with the gang. A divide between gangs, poor

neighborhoods and the police has never been wider in the country of El Salvador. Deaths today

are at a record high, rivaling death tolls last seen during the civil war where 75,000 people died

over 12 years.

El Salvador is a perfect example of a country that falls victim to the racial class system

that has been put before them. Such a system that has been valued to be the foundation for

political, judicial, educational, and societal structures cannot be simply deconstructed through
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one effort. Even a war where the FMLN fought to liberate oppressed communities fed the fire

that took the lives of 75,000 people. This war did absolutely nothing for revolutionizing the

economical status El Salvador once had under a socio-economically oppressive society. Today,

coffee is hardly valued as it once was and opportunities for work are scarce amongst Salvadoran

youth. Young men and women are faced with a choice of survival, one of those choices being a

path to join MS-13 (Hernndez).

MS-13 has provided a false illusion of hope for oppressed communities since they

demand control through ruthless violence. They have been named the most deadly street gang in

the world since their forces have spread throughout the planet. It begs the question, how will

Salvadorans and Central Americans alike ever be liberated from the oppression that has existed

from the very beginning? Its hard to think of an answer to such a question since generations of

the modern era did not grow up knowing of the struggles their ancestors endured first-hand. Its a

domino-effect. The organization of people pertaining to the color of their skin creates for a

reality not easily understood by those who are oppressed. There is no value behind race. Race is

simply a social construct used to categorize people by their biological and fundamental

differences. Ones skin color does not make them more capable of completing a task than

someone who is of lighter skin. The person who is oppressed is then pushed to a point where the

oppression presents no rational value which ultimately leads up to some sort of revolution. A

justification with no knowledgable value has caused violence to incur to the generations after its

origin. In El Salvadors case, in order for the conquistadors to establish dominance, they used

technological advancements to murder indigenous societies already occupying the land.

This advanced further in time to when the Salvadoran military killed 30,000 indigenous

peasants during La Matanza, leading the assassination of Archbishop Romero because he was
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empowering the impoverished and oppressed communities, then going on to murder 1,000

women and children in the rural lands of El Mozote to instill fear and dominance amongst those

they were trying to take advantage of all for the capitalization of labor and the coffee industry.

Racism doesnt have to exist in a verbal form where one calls someone a racial slur, it only

perpetuates the system that already exists amongst us all, here in the United States and in Latin

America.

History has a tendency to repeat itself. Empiricists would argue that those who

experience these oppressions first hand would be the ones most fit to suggest a fix for the

problem at hand for the benefit of humanity. The racial problems that derived from the Spanish

conquistadors have evolved into long stems of violence that only strengthened the dominance

established at the top of the racial hierarchy. Its not farfetched to deem the civil war one of

racist value. However, similar events have occurred in the Middle East that have formed other

factions of extremism. In the Middle East, several terrorist organizations have formed over the

years due to multiple instances of interventions of outside nations. Russia and the United States

have prioritized invading Afghanistan for different reasons, but the American intervention for

capitalistic intentions have contributed in the creation of a monster that American military are

fighting today. Much like MS-13, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria--or ISIS--is the result of

U.S. intervention in Iraq, which most notably enforced the toppling of Saddam Hussein, the

leader of the Baath regime.

After September 11, 2001, president George W. Bush led an insurgency in Iraq as a

response due to blame put on Hussein. He later disbanded the Iraqi army and allowed for

American troops to detain anyone suspected of supporting the Baaths ideals. Bush rationalized

his ideals but supporting the thought that weapons of mass destruction may exist in Iraq but was
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later proven to be false. Extremists were able to radicalize detainees to form a Jihadist

philosophy that one must wage religious warfare on those who oppose Islam, the dominant

religion in Iraq especially those of Sunni beliefs, a sect of Islam. This served as an opportunity

for those disbanded soldiers to join the Sunni insurgency in search of job opportunities and quite

frankly, an opportunity to fight those that took their lifestyles away. (Vox)

Disillusionment of the Iraqi population perpetuated extremism in the Middle East and

sparked a worldwide war on terrorism in attempt to extinguish the violence the terror groups

used to gain attention. Since the United States was focused on Saddam Hussein and Osama bin

Ladens al-Qaeda, the true perpetrator of the 9/11 attacks, Abu Masab al-Zarqawi, leader of a

Sunni extremist terrorism group in Iraq, was able to mobilize his extremist insurgency to

increase violence by terrorism in Iraq. Since Zarqawi was a rival of bin Laden, the increased

American focus on the two leaders allowed him to spark an Islamic civil war in Iraq between

Sunnis and Shias by attacking Shia mosques and communities. This allowed him to rise to prime

notoriety amongst Jihadists which encouraged al-Qaeda to form an allyship with Zarqawi to

create the new terrorist organization, al-Qaeda in Iraq. (Coles)

Eventually Zarqawi would become a target for U.S. forces eventually leading to his

death. This allowed for a power vacuum to develop within the group during the 2011 Arab

Spring. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a radical Islamic leader, took control of al-Qaeda in Iraq and

renamed it the Islamic State in Iraq (Vox). His motives consist of establishing an Islamic state all

across the planet, or however much he can get from it, as a response to the intervention of

Islamic-majority countries both historically and modernly. In Syria, the Arab Spring wasnt an

accepted social commodity which resulted in Syrian president Bashar al-Assad violently

cracking down on all protesters that opposed his regime. He released prisoners, knowingly
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radicalizing protesters which eventually led to the expansion of the Islamic state. This created the

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria we know today.

The United States actively tries to extinguish any form extremism domestically in the

states. However, this continuously perpetuates the idea that extremism is the result of Islamic

origins instead of the historical aspects initially ignited by the interventions of America and

Russia combined. It seems as if these two nations competition for world dominance consistently

leaves a trail of literal violence in the countries they try to control. When a country is able to

establish its influence on another, it leaves their agenda to be adopted by the generations of

people already inhabiting the land. Which is why the United States intervened in Iraq and not

Syria, to gain a return on an investment from originally mobilizing Iraqi troops before topping

Saddam Hussein (Brumfield). Americans lifestyle and economic establishments have a

foundation based on the categorization of race coupled with religion, but only to the extent of

violence. ISIS dominates Syria and Iraqi land, not even the United States values the situation at

hand because ISISs origins stem from what the United States didnt pay attention to. Therefore,

no special interest is threatened, lowering the value of the situation for foreign policy experts

when comparing to what was thought have to occur in Iraq with weapons of mass destruction.

No investment, no competition, no return, only humanitarian concerns.

As seen in El Salvador, the Spanish were able to establish a colorist hierarchy that

organized Spanish settled apart from indigenous peoples and African slaves. This allowed for

society to evolve into a government that unconsciously uses the norms established by the elites.

These norms had established fatal effects on society in Central America since those elites that

descended from the Spanish settlement maintained power in the land, ultimately developing a

privilege that no other race in El Salvador will ever reach. This allowed for elites to maintain
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control of the state while relating to the privileges of the American establishment, ultimately

gaining an ally for the civil war. The civil war found its origins in the coffee industry. The

Salvadoran state wanted to capitalize more on the labor provided by the lower class. The lower

class was aware of the privileges inherited by the Salvadoran elites and began to rise against

them. This allowed the Salvadoran capitalists to deem the poorer classes as socialists which

paved the way for Americans to support their efforts.

Capitalism is a form of unconscious racism that finds its roots during the times Spanish

and other European settlers landed in the New World. Africans were enslaved and dehumanized

by European settlers in Latin America and the United States to ensure that all economical profits

were at 100%. Slavery is the purest form of capitalism in the sense that people were abused and

dehumanized for labor only for the enrichment of White wealth (Peter). The idea of racism is

transnational and its worst form was born in the United States, planting a seed for generations

later on to use to perpetuate their privileges, sometimes even transnationally.

In the case of ISIS, the group was able to form due to the special interests already placed

in the state of Iraq. Zarqawi mobilized while U.S. and other global forces actively searched for

bin Laden and Hussein to preserve allyship and control of the Iraqi government. Even when

Zarqawi was eliminated, his forces still mobilized under a new leader that justified his actions

under jihad. Domestically, terrorism is widely feared amongst American citizens since the

intangibility of extremism can easily infect the mind of a skeptic. Islam is not at fault for the

extreme crimes committed by jihadist groups. The fault can be seen in the focus of the United

States and surrounding forces preserving their capitalistic interests around the area. As seen in El

Salvador, the United States actively ignored human rights violations for the preservation of

capitalistic philosophies. An assumption that Saddam Hussein was the perpetrator of the 9/11
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attacks rationalized intervention in Iraq due to existing investment in the oil industry. Aside from

that, many innocent lives were taken by U.S. military forces and jihadist groups. With the

increased focus on special interests, the real problem was able to grow behind the scenes.

Capitalistic ideals allow for actions to be implemented not only amongst people of different

races, but anyone who possess a fundamental difference than those that are in power.

It is important to see the philosophies for what they are. Capitalism as an idea only

implies that profit can be made off an existing opportunity. If one is hungry for an apple and you

possess an apple for this person to eat, you are left with a choice. You can give an apple to that

person for absolutely nothing in return, or, gain something of the opportunity in exchange for the

opportunity. However, the philosophy has gained its defining form from using humanitys

physical fundamental differences to categorize people based on value. There is no value in skin

color or facial structure. This creates for an absence of knowledge, implying that racism in itself

is not valid from a holistic, world point-of-view. Most of the violence that plagues the Earths

poorest countries are a result of oppression, institutionalized by elites that only have everything

to gain, leaving only rubble for those involved (figuratively and literally).

The worlds elite nations need to recognize the value of a human life. A life is something

that cannot be given back once it has diminished. Then again, who are we as human beings to

determine what the word value means when applied to a persons ability to interact with the

world around them. The life in and of itself is epistemologically fallible in the sense of it is

impossible to determine where a humans life becomes less valuable to someone elses. For

European settlers to claim that their physical attributes are more valuable than other peoples

physical attributes is based on no sort of fact or knowledge whatsoever. Let alone categorizing

people using this fallacy has doomed society from prospering in an efficient manner when
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pursuing the diversity and inclusion of all different types of cultures and ethnic backgrounds. In

order to overcome the catastrophe of racism, we must prioritize the education of how racism

came to be. Inclusion of diversity begins with acknowledging how oppressed communities

became...minoritized, held in a position where privileges are withheld from a select group of

people.

Writing about the United States effect on the rest of the world encouraged me to dive deeper in
search of more answers pertaining to the root cause on why violence lives in a cycle in parents
country of origin, as well as a region the media concentrates so heavily on today. I am only one
person though, the best I can do is mobilize non-violent organizations and set a priority to
educate those who give value to something that pertains no value behind it. Recognizing
privileges effect on those who posses it and those without, is the next step in unraveling the
myths behind race. After that, well is the answer we are all trying to seek. Though one thing is
for sure, the violence that occurs in our society stem from a series of domino effects that lead to
one event to the next. Until the majority eliminates the unconscious value in race passed down to
us over generations, we may never see change. The only thing we can do is acknowledge what
has happened historically is a result of a justification without value: racism. Without this
obligation, the oppressed will further be marginalized to the point where disillusionment will
overshadow all sense of rationality resulting in extremism, giving the majority more of a reason
to perpetuate the cycle of their own privileges.
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