It was 24 years ago, on June 3rd & 4th, when the Chinese military was ordered to end the Tiananmen Square protests.
It was on June 5th, with the blood of protesters still fresh in the streets, when a lone man stopped the Chinese army, and stopped a world transfixed by his act of defiance.
The Tiananmen Square protests formed in response to the death of Hu Yaobang, a reformer and Communist Party leader who was considered liberal by party hardliners. Students took to the streets to mourn his death, and to protest the tyrannical communist regime that still rules mainland China today.
The student protesters were supported by local residents, shopkeepers, and in some manner the army itself – which is why The Tank Man survived to fight another day.
As a line of over 25 army tanks made their way down the center of Tiananmen Square, the Tank Man ran in front of them and stood alone, defiant. Every time the tanks sought to drive around him, he positioned himself again in front of them.
At some point, the unknown rebel, was pulled away by friends – but he stood long enough for the images, the inspiration, to spread around the world.
The image of the Tank Man stopping a convoy of tanks in pursuit of freedom became one of the most iconic images of the 20th century. Time Magazine named the Unknown Rebel one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century – and no one knows his name.
In China, the Tiananmen Square Massacre never happened. The government has scrubbed clean the history books, it has filtered the Internet, and children in China today have no knowledge of the braves souls lost in the spring of 1989, they have no knowledge of the fight for freedom that once filled their streets, filled their cities, filled the hearts of the Chinese people.
On the 24th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, it’s worth our while as Americans to remember this time for those who live in a country where those memories are outlawed. It is worth remembering the spirit of The Tank Man – a man who disappeared into hiding or was perhaps murdered for his defiance.
Americans, unlike any other nation, do not share a common bloodline, a common ancestry. You can be born with American citizenship, you can gain American citizenship, but the essence of being a true American is in spirit.
The Tank Man reflected the American spirit, and so it is worth remembering him in America.
Below is a short video of The Tank Man, a video people in China cannot see.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tankman/view/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_Man
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_Man
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989