January 17
1863
Mangas Colorado, Apache chief, agrees to peace talks, is then arrested & imprisoned at Fort McLane (Arizona), then shot by two soldiers in his cell.
1893
In Hawaii, Queen Lilluokalani‘s regime is overthrown by U.S. pineapple tycoon Sanford Dole & pro-annexation sugar interests.
A new provincial government was installed with Dole as president. U.S. troops had landed the day before providing support “to protect U.S. interests.” In 1898, President William McKinley signed a joint resolution of Congress authorizing the annexation.
January 17, 1993, native Hawai’ians demonstrated against U.S. control of their homeland on the 100th anniversary of the U.S. backed overthrow of the independent Hawai’ian government.
Queen Lilluokalani
1945
Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews, disappeared in Hungary while in Soviet custody.
1961
President Dwight Eisenhower in his farewell address warned the nation of “…the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.”
President Eisenhower
1970
Some 300 Chicano activists gather in Crystal City, Texas, to form an independent political party La Raza Unida Party addressing a broad cross section of issues – restoration of land grants, farm workers rights, enhanced education, voting and political rights. The Party became a political force in California, Texas, Colorado and throughout the southwest.
The party’s name means “the United People.”
1987
5,000 rally and 138 are arrested while protesting the test launch of first strike Trident Missile, Cape Canaveral, Florida.
a Trident missile launching from submarine
1998
Over 2000 indigenous Tzeltals & Tojolbals from the state of Chiapas, Mexico, occupy the military barracks of the 39th Military Zone in protest over Army incursions into their communities.
2003
In frigid temperatures, 500,000 converged on Washington, D.C. to oppose U.S. war on Iraq – the largest U.S. peace demonstration since the Vietnam era.
Deanna Dee-Dee Taylor 