Have been asked by journalist David Dastych to publish this letter from mother of murdered Sgt. Jan Pietrzak to president-elect Barack Obama.
November 11, 2008
Barack Obama
President Elect of the United States
Washington DC
Dear President Obama:
They killed my son. He was 24 years old. He was a US Marine Sergeant. His name was Jan Pawel Pietrzak. Jan Pawel is John Paul in English. He was named after the Polish Pope John Paul II, who made this world different and changed the course of history bringing about the fall of communism.
In 1994, we immigrated to United States with my husband, son and daughter and settled in Brooklyn, NY. My husband and I worked hard to bring our children up to be good Americans, patriotic and faithful to their new
country.
After 9/11 my son at 17 decided to join the Marines. He wanted to defend America. He wanted to join the legendary corps known for Honor, Courage and Commitment, to protect the American President and most important people. He chose a tough but noble path of the Corps of the Few and the Proud.
He Joined the Marine Corps in 2003, fought in Iraq. After his tour of duty, he was assigned to Camp Pendleton, CA. He was promoted to the rank of Sergeant in a helicopter unit, commanding a technical support team. In May, he bought a house in Winchester and on August 8 married Quiana Jenkins, his Afro-American bride from California. They were just beginning to build their life together.
That life was taken from them on October 15 in a savage murder. They were attacked in their own home. They were bound, gagged, and tortured. My son's wife was brutally raped, probably before his eyes. Subsequently, they were executed in cold blood.
The murderers were four soldiers, US Marines, like my son, his brothers in arms. From the same unit as my son, two under his command. They were four Afro-Americans, like my daughter-in-law, her brothers of the same ethnic extraction, brothers who murdered their sister.
I ask: Why did it happen? Wherefrom such hate, such savagery, such indifference? Why were my son and my daughter-in-law so unacceptable to them? What was the underlying motive? Was it just a desire to burglarize the house? If this was really the case then why did they not come when my son was away? Why did they come in the middle of the night armed to their teeth?
I ask: How could such an unthinkable act happen? How could such individuals, predisposed to murder, one of them was a former gang member press accounts induction have been lowered recently for need of manpower in a time of war?
If individuals with a record couldn¹t be inducted, my son and his bride would be alive today.
Death in a war is a patriotic honor for a soldier. This fact enables the family to overcome the tragic loss of a loved one. A murder of a soldier by a soldier in his own country makes military service senseless. Such a death becomes eternal sorrow for the family. My loss will not cease until my death. I wish no mother of a soldier go through such torment as I have.
This is why I ask that my son¹s death be fully and honestly explained. This must be done for all the mothers of soldiers who serve their country.
The parents of my daughter-in-law deserve the truth too. They need to know why she died, a wife of a soldier. They need to know why she was selected to be so savagely attacked as if she were an enemy in her own country in time of peace. This must be fully explained for the sake of all the families of military wives.
The murder of Quiana and Jan Pawel is an unpardonable evil. Their brothers murdered them. It is time for no one in America to die this way again.
Time for a Change.
I am asking you, Mr. President, to help me believe in the possibility of that Change.
May God bless you and protect you.
Respectfully,
Henryka Pietrzak-Varga
WITH PERMISSION. POLISH VERSION APPEARED IN DZIENNIK ZWIAZKOWY [Chicago]
November 11, 2008
Barack Obama
President Elect of the United States
Washington DC
Dear President Obama:
They killed my son. He was 24 years old. He was a US Marine Sergeant. His name was Jan Pawel Pietrzak. Jan Pawel is John Paul in English. He was named after the Polish Pope John Paul II, who made this world different and changed the course of history bringing about the fall of communism.
In 1994, we immigrated to United States with my husband, son and daughter and settled in Brooklyn, NY. My husband and I worked hard to bring our children up to be good Americans, patriotic and faithful to their new
country.
After 9/11 my son at 17 decided to join the Marines. He wanted to defend America. He wanted to join the legendary corps known for Honor, Courage and Commitment, to protect the American President and most important people. He chose a tough but noble path of the Corps of the Few and the Proud.
He Joined the Marine Corps in 2003, fought in Iraq. After his tour of duty, he was assigned to Camp Pendleton, CA. He was promoted to the rank of Sergeant in a helicopter unit, commanding a technical support team. In May, he bought a house in Winchester and on August 8 married Quiana Jenkins, his Afro-American bride from California. They were just beginning to build their life together.
That life was taken from them on October 15 in a savage murder. They were attacked in their own home. They were bound, gagged, and tortured. My son's wife was brutally raped, probably before his eyes. Subsequently, they were executed in cold blood.
The murderers were four soldiers, US Marines, like my son, his brothers in arms. From the same unit as my son, two under his command. They were four Afro-Americans, like my daughter-in-law, her brothers of the same ethnic extraction, brothers who murdered their sister.
I ask: Why did it happen? Wherefrom such hate, such savagery, such indifference? Why were my son and my daughter-in-law so unacceptable to them? What was the underlying motive? Was it just a desire to burglarize the house? If this was really the case then why did they not come when my son was away? Why did they come in the middle of the night armed to their teeth?
I ask: How could such an unthinkable act happen? How could such individuals, predisposed to murder, one of them was a former gang member press accounts induction have been lowered recently for need of manpower in a time of war?
If individuals with a record couldn¹t be inducted, my son and his bride would be alive today.
Death in a war is a patriotic honor for a soldier. This fact enables the family to overcome the tragic loss of a loved one. A murder of a soldier by a soldier in his own country makes military service senseless. Such a death becomes eternal sorrow for the family. My loss will not cease until my death. I wish no mother of a soldier go through such torment as I have.
This is why I ask that my son¹s death be fully and honestly explained. This must be done for all the mothers of soldiers who serve their country.
The parents of my daughter-in-law deserve the truth too. They need to know why she died, a wife of a soldier. They need to know why she was selected to be so savagely attacked as if she were an enemy in her own country in time of peace. This must be fully explained for the sake of all the families of military wives.
The murder of Quiana and Jan Pawel is an unpardonable evil. Their brothers murdered them. It is time for no one in America to die this way again.
Time for a Change.
I am asking you, Mr. President, to help me believe in the possibility of that Change.
May God bless you and protect you.
Respectfully,
Henryka Pietrzak-Varga
WITH PERMISSION. POLISH VERSION APPEARED IN DZIENNIK ZWIAZKOWY [Chicago]
38 comments:
I don't know why but this is the first I've heard of this story. Either I missed it or it didn't get too much coverage.
Sounds like a pretty gruesome case.
Katie Melua has an especially bad song on which she sings "If a black man is racist is it OK?"
No is the rather straightforward answer. Bit of a stupid question really...
There is an argument that a black person in a white dominated society cannot be racist, but only "racially prejudiced"...there is a difference.
I would have thought someone called Black Cat would know that! :-)
What your story above doesn't touch upon is that at least some of these Black guys also apparently raped the Black woman of the White Polish immigrant marine.
Which makes it even sicker...but that was in the link I put in. But what's your point?
To be honest the only people who know if this was racially motivated are those who did it.
My assumption that it was race-related was just a gut reaction. Maybe right, maybe wrong.
I was called a 'Paki shagger' once. When it comes to mixed-race couples the knuckle-draggers often reserve the worst vitriol for the perceived 'traitor'.
The worst thing was that I wasn't even shagging her. Chance would have been a fine thing...
Paki shagger? Was that in UK?
To draw bigger points from a hoffic case - is there a general problem of race relations in US army? if so then this is a sign of that problem. If not then this is just a very nasty crime. And a very sad letter.
It was in a link you put in the comments section of an unrelated post (a week or so ago) when someone brought the matter up.
I brought it up along the same lines of c. kot's observaton: "When it comes to mixed-race couples, the knuckle-draggers often reserve the worst vitriol for the perceived
'traitor'." In the case of the US Marine and his wife, the race "traitor" was the wife.
Of course there are race relations problems in the US armed services. But here's a case where by all appearances there's a loving interracial couple that exemplifies those problems being overcome. I'd say it's more than a very nasty crime; it's laced with very twisted racial overtones.
Bottom line here, too, is the lowering of standards for recruits who are being welcomed into the armed services.
And this brings us to the immortal question we must confront each Thanksgiving day (November 25)as posed by Arlo Guthrie in his song Alice's Restaurant.
Because of Guthrie's criminal record for littering, he is first sent to the Group W Bench (where convicts wait) then outright rejected as unfit for military service:.
"And I, I walked over to the, to the bench there, and there is, Group W's
where they put you if you may not be moral enough to join the army after
committing your special crime, and there was all kinds of mean nasty ugly
looking people on the bench there. Mother rapers. Father stabbers. Father
rapers! Father rapers sitting right there on the bench next to me! And
they was mean and nasty and ugly and horrible crime-type guys sitting on the
bench next to me. And the meanest, ugliest, nastiest one, the meanest
father raper of them all, was coming over to me and he was mean 'n' ugly
'n' nasty 'n' horrible and all kind of things and he sat down next to me
and said, "Kid, whad'ya get?" I said, "I didn't get nothing, I had to pay
$50 and pick up the garbage."
The ironic punchline of the story's denouement is that, in the words of Guthrie, "I'm sittin here on the Group W bench 'cause you want to know if I'm moral enough to join the army, burn women, kids, houses and villages after bein' a litterbug?"
--->But the bigger punchline now is that all these Group W guys are now even admitted into the prouc service of the US Marines.
And some of you guys in Poland want a US military base.
Yes, 'Paki shagger' is a thoroughly British expression.
BTW, I just clicked on a random link in your archive and came across the story about Prince Charles opening a Jewish Centre in Krakow. This is quite a coincidence as Bonnie Prince Charlie just happens to be the subject of my first ever blog post which I wrote this morning.
What a shameless plug....
PS: Thanks for your kind words Ge'ez. I only set up the page because I was curious as to how you actually start a blog (i'm completely new to this whole blogging thing apart from commenting on Guardian CiF) but your expression of interest inspired me to actually write something.
Beatroot
This comment is not meant to be funny but it shows how out of touch you are with reality.
I have several Black female friends with whom I am very close. Most of them are West Indians and one is called by many my office wife because we take lunch together every day.
I seldom go with these friends to clubs and when I do it is with great reluctance. Even an act as innocuous as dancing with a Black female can upset many people.
Sad, sad case. Racial intollerance is not confined to any one group, not the majority nor the minority.
Racial intolerance is indeed not restricted to one group. But racism - the power to affect and oppress one group has been restricted, mainly, to one group - whites.
maybe you didn't understand what I was saying, Beako?
Beatroot
Even that is not the case. As humans are capable of almost anything given the right conditions. The notion that a group lacks power therefore it can not oppress or such a counter reaction is justified is flawed.
Even in enlightened NYC the subject of interracial dating is very taboo. My coworker is Haitian and
we have two meals a day together almost every day. On rare occasions
when she drags me to a West Indian
Club and we dance it is not uncommon for some Black males to get very upset. However, as we are
in part typically going out with scores coworkers (Federal Officers)
this gets taken care of fast.
From the newspaper articles at least one of the perpetrators called himself "Crip" General. The Crips are a notorious and deadly gang. However, the police records were relatively minor. The problem lies with sealing court records most likely for juveniles. Use of sealed records can end an agents career even if they knew about it, unless it is handled delicately.
The victim was from a relatively enlightened area and had likely not
encountered this before. Contrary, to the uninformed opinion of Geez the military does a far better job
of combating racism than your average University, Federal or Private Job.
Incidents are investigated and handled swiftly. I have had two Jewish soldiers tell strikingly similar stories. They were transfered to another unit and the perpetrators severely punished.
One can find genuine and staged incidents in any far left University. Does Geez think leftist
lowering of standards has anything
to do with those genuine and contrived incidents.
In a large body of people on sheer
mathematics one will get a few nasty types. Life does not conform
to mindless social science hacks ideas as we are INDIVIDUALS.
Still don’t think you quite understand what I was saying, WeakoBeako.
All people have prejudices, some people have racial prejudices. But those prejudices are not effective if one group does not have power to enforce those prejudices in the shape of discriminatory behaviour.
So when US was a truly racist society - I.e. the state had racist policies, and whites had overwhelming power in the shape of ownership of property etc, the you have a structured racism throughout all areas of life. In that circumstance, whites’ prejudice has power to oppress other groups.
Now blacks have not been in a position to enforce that kind of racism in any society, bar, maybe, in countries like Mugabie’s Zimbabwe, for instance.
So racism = prejudice + power. Therefore talking about white and black prejudice as being equivalents is meaningless unless you take the context of those prejudices into account.
Get me now, Beako?
I didn't realize leftists were in control of the military for the past decade.
There have been a rising number of gang/racial related incidents of violence in the US military in recent years.
But I also think that there is all kinds of power. To deny that Crips and other gang bangers are bereft of power and cannot be guilty of racism ignores the extent to which these groups can and do exercise institutionalized racist terrorism. That's a form of power, too.
BTW, please spare us your fantasies, heh Beaky? It's just too sad.
ignores the extent to which these groups can and do exercise institutionalized racist terrorism.
Institutionalised racist terrorism? Examples, please!
Beatenrootlessly
You need to drop the Marcuse/ Marxist myopia and join reality. One does not need power to commit racist acts especially those that are criminal in nature.
A person familiar with the Black community would knowledgeable of the Nation of Islam, The Five Percenters, Black Hebrews and the
racist crack pot Black liberation theology churches. It seems that you lack this common knowledge and
need to get out of the Salon more.
Lets see a white liberation theology sounds a tad Aryan Nations. Lets also not pretend that
Liberation theology is related to cod fish either.
There is racism in every community
and it is precisely dividing people
into oppressed and oppressors ala
Marx that is wrong. This type of behavior is always wrong regardless
of context.
Onto the Court Jester
Even in the military human resources is typically handled by those who were trained in far left
Universities. You may now purchase
a clue.
There was a recent staged noose incident in higher ed. A professor
who was under fire for academic malfeasance placed a noose on her door to deflect attention from her
performance. Would Geez like to peruse bias related incidents real
and fake in University gulags.Of course Geez would never discuss
lowering standards there for obvious reasons.
The military in general does a better job than other branches of government or the private sector.
In any very large group there will be unfortunate inexcusable episodes
like this. The cause is probably related to sealed court records and
security checks.
Geez said: “And some of you guys in Poland want a US military base.”
Yes we still want them!
This story is not very remarkable in itself as crime and violence mixed with racial overtones are not exactly uncommon in the US. What I would consider special about this story is the self-censorship the media practices to fulfill the need to be “politically correct”. The story did not get very wide or lengthy coverage (or any coverage at all) in the large mainstream media versus local papers. Lets say the four Marines were white and the victims were a white women and a black man then I can guarantee you this would have been a huge national story. I dare say Oprah would be handing out toasters or gift certificates at the memorial service live on camera.
Why is there such a societal response is much to do with race still being a big issue in American life.
Beako-Sneako
Marcuse/ Marxist????
You are way off intellectual roots of what is mainstream sociological theory. can you show me something Marcuse said that was anywhere near what I said? Marcuse, to my knowledge, never wrote about racism.
Don't try and pretend you know about something that you obviously do not. It tends to weaken your argument a little...
Jan - I agree about the media coverage...I think that is why the Polish journo asked me to print the letter. Which shows that folk want it more widely kniwn about.
But I am not sure it proves anything other than that disgusting crimes happen. Often.
What? You deny gangbangers their institutionalized historical agency? You gonna tell a Crip he's powerless to his face?
Otherwise, in regard to the specific incident being discussed, if the woman was married to a black man, do you really think this disgusting crime would have happened? I doubt it.
57, it's gotten quite a bit of coverage as far as I've seen.
And Beaky, your attempt at painting a portrait of the mean streets of academe is ludicrous. Yes, there are incidents primarily of sophmoric stupidity but they don't compare to the range and extent of gang violence in the military or out on the streets in the wider society.
What? You deny gangbangers their institutionalized historical agency? You gonna tell a Crip he's powerless to his face?
The word I want you to explain is "institutionalized...". How is this thuggery institutionalised? Is it sanctioned by the authorities? Is it official policy? Does it have a defense budget?
What are ya talkin about, Geeza?
Jan
The comparison was not made between
gangs and the gulags of lower living in Academia. The ignorant comment was made by the clown Geez about the crime being the product of lower standards in the Army.
What group has consistently fought for lower standards? Yet the results of this lowering of standards has not created Socialist
Eden. This is because Eden does not exist and in any large body there will be social problems.
The comments of Geez are as stupid as claiming after the VT shooting one does not want a University because of the violence. Last I checked college probably drink as much, use more drugs and less prostitution than servicemen. Servicemen are subject to drug tests unlike University spoiled brats.
Beatroot
Your slop does indeed come out of the Frankfurt School of dementia.
Perhaps you need to spend more time
in the inner cities so you wouldn't sound so absurd. They don't like Euros there so if you don't talk you might learn something. Outside
of a few crackpot racist churches one does not hear class and struggle in the same breath.
They have their own authority which establishes policy. Many of these gangs are more than a match for the police in terms of weaponry.
<<<
How is this thuggery institutionalised? Is it sanctioned by the authorities? Is it official policy? Does it have a defense budget?
That isn't the meaning of "institutionalised", Geez.
Wacko - Your slop does indeed come out of the Frankfurt School of dementia.
can you give me an example of where Frankfurt school write about this? No, because thjey didn't. So don;t be silly.
Then what is the meaning of institutionalized? You don't think the Crips are an institution? And nationalized at that! What about the Mafia? They don't constitute an institution?
No. If this kind of behaviour was "institutionalised" in the US army then it would be like torture was under G W Bushie. The state sanctions it.
This is not the case with this horid murders.
Wait, wait, wait.
There was some sidetracking off the original subject there and I was pointing to the general rise of gang violence in the US military.
While there is evidence of one of the guys involved in this specific double homicide case being in the Crips, I doubt that the violence was sanctioned by the Crips. What we have here is an incident instigated by a "rogue" Crip.
And I wasn't suggesting that street gang violence was institutionalized in the US military. It is institutionalized in the gangs themselves which have established a counter-authority to commanding officers.
And I wasn't suggesting that street gang violence was institutionalized in the US military. It is institutionalized in the gangs themselves which have established a counter-authority to commanding officers.
Racial intolerance is indeed not restricted to one group. But racism - the power to affect and oppress one group has been restricted, mainly, to one group - whites.
You are really stupid!
Kindly explain why I am stupid - and when you do then what you say will be a debate. At the moment it is just dumb insults.
I don't know why but this is the first I've heard of this story. Either I missed it or it didn't get too much coverage.
On the other hand, if the criminals were white this story would be on the front page of most newspapers.
Black crime is taboo.
I think that is a very silly remark. No doubt the racial element of this story makes it a touchy one, but to imply there has been any kind of media cover up is just ridiculous. There has been lots of soverage of this if you do a simple search on google news.
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&tab=wn&ned=us&q=Jan+Pietrzak&btnG=Search+News
Really?
I don't think so.
The tiniest fraction of those first and second-generation immigrants, who have killed, raped and otherwise violated British men, women and children in Britain, is represented below. All of them, with the exception of Kenneth Erskine and Curtis Howard, committed the crimes cited since Stephen Lawrence was killed. We've all heard of Stephen. How many of these were you aware of before you saw them here?
http://www.iamanenglishman.com/rogues_gallery.php
Firstly, the link is broken, second...what has your last remark got to do with either the original post or indeed with anything else?
Marxist Beatroot´s friends:
http://www.iamanenglishman.com/rogues_gallery.php
sigh, I am so glad I am not an institution but an individual, even if other people can only see what they think is a representative of an institution when they see me. These people do not know me at all.
I think that if we are all honest with ourselves we can see this despicable crime for what it is and what it is; A savagely brutal attack on two good people by racist animals. They will be punished in this life and beyond.
The more critical question is why has this story been regulated mostly to the internet blogosphere and a few news sites? No headlines, no political discussion and certainly no marches, demonstrations etc. And, at the risk of sounding paranoid, how is it that such a visceral story DID escape mainstream media coverage and follow up? Is the Left leaning media so agenda driven that it will defy their own “if it bleeds it leads” sensibilities? If this was a crime perpetuated by White racist animals I can’t help but think we would have a movie of the week already.
It’s like the saying goes – “All that is needed for evil to succeed is for good people to do nothing”
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