Pardon Me Butchers, I Am No Meek and Gentle Piece of Earth!: The People v USAF (1847-Present)
Part of "big sky/넓은 하늘" (December 2025)
The United States Air Force (USAF) has been possibly the most notorious proponent of aerial bombing in the period following WWII. This is not surprising, given the US' early interest in the military uses of airpower. Although the first aerial bombing campaigns were launched by European states in the 1910s, the US Army Signal Corps' Aeronautical Division - a precursor to USAF - was established in 1907.
Since then, USAF bombing campaigns have killed and displaced millions, caused instability and resentment, and fuelled climate change. Why does USAF bomb people? When did it become normal, in the US, to do this? The answer is unclear. However, historical records suggest that the worldview underlying this phenomenon may be deeply rooted.
The development of aerial bombardment is intertwined with the emergence of nitroglycerin and dynamite. Some of the first instances when these substances were used in the US were in the construction of railways in the 1860s. During this time, railways were often constructed by "blasting" lands that Indigenous peoples hold as kin. During the construction of the Pacific Railway in 1866, nitroglycerin was manufactured west of Shoshone Territory to "blast" the Sierra Nevadas. 90 years later, during the 1950s, military use of lands for nuclear testing would cause the Shoshone to be known as "the most-bombed nation on Earth."
The practice of "blasting" land has often been associated with disregard for the safety of people labouring on blasting sites. Evidence of this trend in the US predates the invention of dynamite. During the 1840s, explosives were used in the construction of turnpikes and other infrastructure in the US. Legal decisions from this period describe a terrible practice of exposing Black people to death and grave injury by enslaving them and forcing them to labour on infrastructure projects where explosives were used. Over 100 years later in 1985, several Black people (including children) who were members of the organization MOVE in Philadelphia would be targeted in one of the only instances of government-directed aerial bombing on the US mainland.
The historical roots of US bombing extend beyond US borders. In 2025, the US has bombed ships off the coast of Venezuela. In 1926, US airplanes were bombing the forces of General Augusto César Sandino in Nicaragua. In 2025, the US is funding a genocide by air in Gaza. In 1925, US pilots volunteered to bomb "absolutely defenceless women and children" in Chefchaouen, Morocco. In 1945 over Japan, the US became the only country to deploy a nuclear bomb. During the mass demobilization that followed, the US began to "[tear] the Air Force down," a process described by one highly-ranked individual in the military as "not a demobilization; it was a rout." The US' decision to bomb Korea during the Korean War played a significant role in reversing this course. The Korean War "propelled the United States...into a massive rearmament program," which laid the groundwork for a "defense program that relied more on strategic air forces for deterrence and less on conventional ground and sea forces for projecting power overseas." We continue to live under the ramifications of this defense program today.
This zine is made up of archival materials about the roots of aerial bombardment in the US. It is intended to support reflection and resistance during this current moment of rearmament and war-making.
TEXT: "The powder bill waxed portentous...the Eastern market had been swept bare by the Government arsenal demands following the high tide of war; in the gleaning the figures were boosted to eight and ten, twelve and fifteen dollars of a keg; twelve and fifteen kegs were used in a single blast, and the toll reached 500 kegs a day...The blasts shook the solitudes to their foundations. By one volcanic explosion 3000 tons of granite were scattered like shrapnel."
TEXT: "In the blasting a fragment of rock weighing 240 pounds was hurled two-thirds of a mile across Donner Lake. In August the daylight shone through Summit Tunnel; this midsummer, 1867, the first locomotive crossed the divide, and looked upon gaunt Nevada."
TEXT: "Backed by dollars and by energy, and by an abundance of Chinamen (some literally kidnapped at the gangways of the San Francisco steamers)...the Central again far advanced its docile pioneers and pursuing along the lower Truckee moved..."
SEE ALSO: "By reason of impossible canyons, gorges and abrupt pitches ten tunnels were required - one at the Summit, of 1659 feet, almost a third of a mile - in order to bridge grades that otherwise would be beyond the power of any locomotive...granite so hard was encountered that the shots spurted from the holes as if from a cannon, and left the rock uninjured. Nitroglycerin was manufactured in the camps, but it was more dangerous to the men than to the cliffs."
TEXT: "Mullen v. Ensley, 8 Humphreys 428, December 1847. "Jordan was hired...put to the business of blasting rock, for the construction of a turnpike...was 'blown up,' one of his eyes put out, and one of his hands severely injured"...Held: [429] "not an ordinary and usual" employment. Decree against the defendant for $250, [428] "the amount of the deterioration in the value of the slave," with interest from the date of the accident, [429] "and that no more hire should be allowed after the accident, than...could have been had.""
SOURCE: Edited by Helen Turncliff Catterall (1929), "Judicial Cases concerning American Slavery and the Negro, Volume II, Cases from the Courts of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee" <https://archive.org/details/volume2judicialc00unse> at pages 551-552/684 of the PDF.
TEXT: "Jones v. Fort, 36 Ala. 449, June 1860...Held: [457] "A master may...set his slave to blasting rock, immure him in an unhealthy mine, or put him before the mast on a distant voyage; the hirer, under a general contract of hiring, has no right to do any of these things...[460] The legal effect of such a contract is to deny the hirer the right...of lending...the slave for the specific purpose of being engaged in any service which involves more danger than prudent masters would usually be willing to have their own slaves exposed to;"
SOURCE: Edited by Helen Turncliff Catterall (1929), "Judicial Cases concerning American Slavery and the Negro, Volume III, Cases from the Courts of Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana" <https://archive.org/details/volume3judicialc00unse> at pages 257/778 of the PDF.
Segment 3:
IMAGE: American pilots who volunteered to bomb the town of Chefchaouen, Morocco during the Rif Wars.
TEXT: "But in my opinion the most cruel, the most wanton and the most unjustifiable act of the whole war was the bombing of the open town of Sheshuan in 1925 - when every male inhabitant capable of bearing arms was known to be absent - by a squadron of volunteer American airment with the French Flying Corps. A number of absolutely defenceless women and children were massacred and many others were maimed and blinded."
IMAGE: General Augusto César Sandino with his foot up on the bumper of a car and his elbow resting on his raised knee.
SOURCE: Records of the US Marine Corps (June 1929), "General Sandino [center] and Staff enroute to Mexico. Siglo XX" <https://catalog.archives.gov/id/532357>.
TEXT: "Meanwhile, Chief Marine Gunner Michael Wodarczyk had kept strafing the rebels until his ammunition was exhausted...This aerial foray gave the rebels a taste of what was to come. At 1435, a flight of DeHavillands, led by Major Ross E. Rowell, appeared over Ocotal. Each plane carried a load of bombs, a tactical innovation unknown to Sandino's horde. Steeling themselves for another strafing attack, the rebels were stupified [sic] as the fragile biplanes nosed over at an altitude of a thousand feet. Most of the rebels fled from the bombing attack; but a handful continued firing from behind a stone wall until outflanked by Hatfield's men. The bodies of 56 rebels were recovered..."
IMAGE: A man in a dark suit sits on rubble in the aftermath of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
SOURCE: Photographs Relating to the Administration, Family, and Personal Life of Harry S. Truman (1945), "Man Sitting Among the Destruction in Hiroshima" <https://catalog.archives.gov/id/350382732>.
TEXT: "All the Japanese that we interviewed, including their top commanders, said that the war was over and would have ended prior to 1 November, the invasion date, without the atomic bomb. They said it was their realization that the military forces could no longer protect the Japanese people from destruction. One thing we haven't discussed is the aerial mining campaign that we ran out of the Marianas with the 313th Wing, which was one of the most successful that has ever been done anywhere."
TEXT: "Shoshone groups are adamant that any additional radiation risk to their community is unacceptable. The Shoshone Nation - site of the U.S. Nevada nuclear testing facility - is already the most-bombed nation on Earth. The Shoshone suffer from widespread cancer, leukemia and other diseases because of fallout from more than 600 atomic explosions in their territory. To add to this risk is outlandish injustice."
TEXT: "The Mayor, the Managing Director, the Police Commissioner and the Fire Commissioner accepted the suggestion of an aerial attack on a Philadelphia row house known by each of them to be occupied by a large number of adults and children. By approving the bombing, each of these individuals exhibited a reckless disregard for life and property."
SOURCE: Philadelphia Special Investigation Commission (6 March 1986), "The findings, conclusions and recommendations of the Philadelphia Special Investigation Commission" Temple Universities Libraries, MOVE (Organization) Collections <https://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16002coll18/id/6211/rec/1> at page 20/34.
TEXT: "Mayor paused only 30 seconds before approving the dropping of explosives. Had he taken more time before making such a critical decision, he may have considered the presence of the children, the possibility that gas was on the roof, and the possibility that explosives were stored in the MOVE house."
SOURCE: Philadelphia Special Investigation Commission (6 March 1986), "The findings, conclusions and recommendations of the Philadelphia Special Investigation Commission" Temple Universities Libraries, MOVE (Organization) Collections <https://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16002coll18/id/6211/rec/1> at page 20/34.
TEXT: "The high-energy mix of Tovex and C-4 generated blast temperatures up to 7200 degrees which, according to expert testimony, were hot enough to evaporate water and ignite a fire even if flammable liquids had not been present on the roof"
SOURCE: Philadelphia Special Investigation Commission (6 March 1986), "The findings, conclusions and recommendations of the Philadelphia Special Investigation Commission" Temple Universities Libraries, MOVE (Organization) Collections <https://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16002coll18/id/6211/rec/1> at page 20/34.
TEXT: "At any time until shortly after 6:00 P.M., the Fire Department "Squrts" could have extinguished the fire without exposing police or firefighters to any possible danger."
SOURCE: Philadelphia Special Investigation Commission (6 March 1986), "The findings, conclusions and recommendations of the Philadelphia Special Investigation Commission" Temple Universities Libraries, MOVE (Organization) Collections <https://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16002coll18/id/6211/rec/1> at page 20/34.
TEXT: "The plan to bomb the MOVE house was reckless, ill-conceived and hastily approved. Dropping a bomb on an occupied row house was unconscionable and should have been rejected out-of-hand by the Mayor, the Managing Director, the Police Commissioner and the Fire Commissioner."
SOURCE: Philadelphia Special Investigation Commission (6 March 1986), "The findings, conclusions and recommendations of the Philadelphia Special Investigation Commission" Temple Universities Libraries, MOVE (Organization) Collections <https://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16002coll18/id/6211/rec/1> at page 20/34.
SEE ALSO: "The firing of over 10,000 rounds of ammunition in under 90 minutes at a row house containing children was clearly excessive and unreasonable. The failure of those responsible for the firing to control or stop such an excessive amount of force was unconsionable."
SOURCE: Philadelphia Special Investigation Commission (6 March 1986), "The findings, conclusions and recommendations of the Philadelphia Special Investigation Commission" Temple Universities Libraries, MOVE (Organization) Collections <https://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16002coll18/id/6211/rec/1> at page 18/34.
IMAGE: Mumia Abu-Jamal* interview Julius Erving in 1980. They look down together. Julius Erving has his hand on his chin. *Mumia Abu-Jamal provided journalistic coverage of the MOVE Nine.
TEXT: "Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of US foreign assistance since World War II. Successive Administrations, working with Congress, have provided Israel with assistance reflective of robust domestic U.S. support for Israel and its security; shared strategic goals in the Middle East; and historical ties dating U.S. support for the creation of Israel in 1948. To date, the United States has provided Israel $174 billion (current, or non-inflation-adjusted, dollars) in bilateral assistance and missile defense funding."
SEE ALSO: "Over the last two decades, including during Israel's ongoing conflict with Hamas, American public attitudes toward Israel as expressed in public-opinion polling have shifted somewhat when compared to previous eras. Though lawmakers continue to vote in favor of U.S. assistance to Israel, there have been calls from some political and ideological groups to reevaluate the long-standing U.S.-Israeli assistance relationship."
TEXT: "On Nov. 10, at the direction of the Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization. Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics. 4 male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed. The vessel was trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea and was struck in international waters."
TEXT: "When North Korea invaded South Korea in June 1950, President Truman and American military leaders believed that the invasion was a Soviet and Chinese Communist maneuver in the opening campaign of another global war. It was not. Yet it propelled United States into the Korean War and, equally significant, into a massive rearmament program. The Strategic Air Command, as the nation's principal long-range retaliatory force, benefitted directly. It grew from 71,490 people and 868 aircraft in January 1950 to 170,892 people and 1,830 aircraft in December 1953. After the war ended, the expansion continued."
TEXT: "Over a period of three years or so killed off - what - twenty percent of the population of North Korea as direct casualties of war, or from starvation and exposure?"
SEE ALSO: "When I came back from Europe in 1948, I noticed the personnel situation that we have been discussing. When the war ended we were in the process of tearing the Air Force down."