Daniel Ellsberg died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 92 last Friday (6-16-2023) at this home in Kensington, CA. Ellsberg was an American political activist, an economist and a US Military analyst. While employed by the Rand Corporation, he precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 by releasing the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret study of the US Government decision-making in relation to the Vietnam War, to The New York Times, The Washington Post and other newspapers.
The most shocking revelation in Ellsberg’s report was the willingness of one president and one administration after another to continue the Vietnam war and the upbeat assessments of the situation, even as they each came to believe that no amount of conventional military force would subdue the Vietnamese resistance. Ellsberg summed it up by saying: “We always knew we could never win.” Yet the war went on and more lives were lost because American leaders were unwilling to acknowledge the futility of the war or to accept the humiliation of defeat.
The exposure of the Pentagon Papers had far-reaching consequences. It contributed to a growing public opposition to the Vietnam War and further eroded the credibility of the U.S. government’s official statements. The leaks also played a crucial role in shaping the public’s perception of government transparency and accountability. Daniel Ellsberg’s actions, while controversial at the time, are widely regarded as an important act of whistleblowing that exposed government deceit and contributed to a broader understanding of the Vietnam War. His courage in challenging government secrecy and his commitment to public accountability have had a lasting impact on the United States’ history and the public’s perception of government actions.
George Floyd’s tragic death occurred on May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where the Black man died while being arrested by Minneapolis police officers. The incident began when a convenience store employee called the police, alleging that George Floyd had used a counterfeit $20 bill. In response, four Minneapolis police officers arrived at the scene to arrest Floyd. During the arrest, one of the officers, Derek Chauvin, knelt on Floyd’s neck for approximately nine minutes, despite Floyd’s pleas that he couldn’t breathe.
Bystanders captured the incident on video, which quickly spread across social media and ignited widespread outrage and protests against police brutality and racial injustice. The video showed Floyd’s distress and ultimately his unconsciousness, leading to his death. Floyd’s death became a catalyst for a global movement advocating for police reform and racial equality, with protests occurring in numerous cities across the United States and worldwide.
On the same day that Ellsberg died, Friday (6-16-23), the Department of Justice released a detailed report on civil rights abuses by the Minneapolis Police Department. The report, which was spurred by the 2020 police murder of George Floyd and released just days before Juneteenth, finds that there is “reasonable cause” to believe that the MPD and the City of Minneapolis engaged in a “pattern or practice of conduct that deprives people of their rights under the Constitution and federal law.” That includes the use of excessive force and discrimination against Black and Native American people. Minneapolis has come to an agreement with the DOJ to negotiate a plan for overhauling the police force. “We will change the narrative around policing in this city,” pledged police chief Brian O’Hara at a press conference Friday.
While there are profound differences between the two cases, they share commonalities in terms of their impact on public discourse, activism, and the pursuit of justice. In their own ways, they did their parts in spurring our country to form a “more perfect union”.