Essays Contents
Going Back In Time
January 26, 2024
It was November 1969.
The guys in my classes at high school
were starting to get their draft notices from the Army.
We heard talk of Canada...
of our friends declaring homosexuality...
or of getting married and having kids...
of getting accepted as a student at a university...
and even... of shooting oneself in the foot...
to qualify for exemptions to the draft.
Facing accusations of cowardice...
then... and even now...
the greater part of our generation objected... to ANY war.
There is no real glory in war... in death and destruction.
The introduction to Ken Burns' Vietnam War documentary:
"After a long and brutal war, Vietnamese revolutionaries led by Ho Chi Minh
end nearly a century of French colonial occupation.
With the Cold War intensifying, Vietnam is divided in two at Geneva.
Communists in the north aim to reunify the country,
while America supports Ngo Dinh Diem's untested regime in the south."
What was discovered to be a FAKE attack on an American ship...
staged by our own military...
was used as the catalyst for going to war in Vietnam.
The American advisory role was now being amplified... to active war...
and the wounded were arriving back home...
some without legs and some without their buddies...
having seen the nightmare that was unfolding
in the jungle of a far-away country
that hadn't even begun to modernize their towns and cities.
Young men who had been raised in good homes with rules of behavior...
and the precepts of their churches...
with dreams of their own futures... their own families...
these young men were being dragged into a fighting war
where they were now killing people who had little or nothing
worth fighting for... besides their own families...
their own children... and a small rice paddy.
Our good men were being ordered to commit war crimes.
Our young men were commanded by fools in the field...
and were ordered to their sure deaths by them.
Back home...
some veterans threw their ill-gotten war medals...
back at the President...
over the White House fence.
A huge march on Washington was planned.
At my highschool, people were setting up a caravan of cars... cars full of students... to make the trip to Washington... to protest the draft and the war. I remember some guy trying to convince me to join the caravan... and how I wondered where we would stay once we got there. And not only THAT... where would anyone go to the bathroom during the days-long protests.
The logistics of this was unpredictable. I chose to stay home.
I didn't like the possibility... that some idiots would drag the whole lot of those protestors into a fight with police... who would use tear gas... billy clubs... arrests... making everyone a part of the violence that might occur.
Yes... it was a dramatic thing to do... to march in Washington...
I felt that... there just had to be a better way.
Yes, it would make everybody feel like they had done something grand... but... the powers-that-be would just whine a little... and make like it really meant something... (similar to how you would treat a 2-year-old when it complains)... but they would never change a policy like... war. They'd let everybody burn off some steam with their protest... but then they would do... nothing.
And Blacks were rising up, as well. They had suffered too long under the thumb of ignorant people who liked the feel of power over those more vulnerable.
For the most part, we were all like strangers to each other.
Blacks... were their own niche of American culture...
getting strength from a faith in God...
worshipping and singing in their own ways... which was... different.
Blacks were trying to live good and decent lives...
whilst surrounded by rejection and defeat...
and an overwhelming rut of poverty.
Both groups were looking for a way to demonstrate to the
American people that things were... NOT OK.
Things in America... were not... OK.
As I look back now... I wonder...
what could we all have done to compel the changes that we needed...
to be a whole people... happy in our homes...
at peace with the world and each other.
What movement would have been powerful enough
to compel the haters and the warmongers
to find better answers and solutions to problems.
Do "marches" prove anything to anybody?
are the powerful intimidated by them?
Do "letters to your Congressman" even get read by them?
And if your Congressmen DID try to make changes...
would it put them in danger...?
would THEY become a target to be defeated by these powerful forces?
John R. Lewis... Black leader... led his people into danger.
I saw it on the TV news.
Horrifying... fire hoses... dogs... beatings...
right in front of all the television cameras.
Ya... they knew there would be a showdown.
Was there nothing else that the Black nation could do
to be heard by the American people? ...
nothing short of a blood bath of violence...?
Whoever was it... that set these standards for "protests"...
that "protest" or "demonstrations" meant marching in the streets
and singing hymns at the Lincoln monument?
or demanding peace at the Washington monument?
Is that the extent of the peoples' arsenal...
when things are intolerable to them?
Martin Luther King, Jr. had a great voice...
and helped to lift the Black nation up off of their knees...
and gave them the strength of righteous objection
to their intolerable state of affairs... in America, no less.
What could he have accomplished...
if he had demanded to speak to every State Legislature in the country...
to inform them about the reality of injustice upon Black people...?
that shame and poverty can injure the very soul of a human being.
What could he have done... to speak to America...
with his inspiring words of Christian indignation...
about the treatment of good Black folk
who only wanted a fair shake at bettering their lives...
and to be granted basic human dignities...
and to be allowed to be MEN and women...
like anyone might feel for themselves... that they want to be.
Could a great speaker... with powerful words...
turn the hearts of the doubters to understand their plight...?
to see their own humanity through the eyes of their victims...?
and to ask all good men to defend their cause...
as the very cause of freedom and justice...
that America has declared to the world... to be...?
that fighting for the rights of all men...
is the only way to defend the country itself...?
Our country needed a good talking-to...
by those who had had to live in it.
These group leaders should have spawned many more...
who could speak wisely about the direction our society needed to take...
to NOT be a nation of hypocrites.
Instead... over the years... spokesmen for these groups
only demonstrated how DIFFERENT our cultures were...
acting uneducated and uncultured on a national stage.
Most of the Black leaders spoke with such a southern drawl
that they could barely be understood...
talking Black talk... lisping without teeth...
which only held them up for derision by "better-educated folks."
And these black leaders' only solution was to alienate Blacks
from the concerned white populations...
who were concerned about those cultural differences
and that awful history of slavery and injustices.
How could we... become friends... and neighbors...?
The cultures were and ARE different.
It wasn't fair to compare Whites with Blacks
because they were... just... different.
They needed very badly to build trust between them...
which is hard to do when the grievances are so hurtful.
When the highschool bands played at half time at ball games...
you could tell that there was a difference.
Blacks... danced as they played and paraded...
and looked pretty strange to white kids...
who may have thought that THEY themselves
were more sophisticated... more "cool"... but...
they weren't having as much fun as the Black marching bands.
We didn't understand THEIR culture...
and THEY couldn't trust any white person... not totally.
There would always be a lingering fear of betrayal...
on both sides...
not knowing what the other person might think...
about their customs and feelings...
stumbling into each others' society...
not knowing what it is like... to be... White... or Black.
Was anybody really being sincere...?
when they tried to make a "go" of being friends?
Maybe... somehow... it is known... in everyone's mind...
that there is nothing more wonderful and beautiful
than a man who has suffered at the hands of injustice...
speaking his righteous truths to the world...
without the corrosion of hate in his words.
In fact, it could be said...
that ANY Black who can overcome injustice...
and speak truth without hate or malice or evil intent...
is a beautiful thing to behold in this world.
Why would anyone fear the Black nation...
if they presented themselves as righteous... and at peace...
rather than... angry... pushy... hateful...
or an enemy ready to strike at a moment's notice...
angry... and then... demand that they be HIRED...???
And the other John Lewis... the John L. Lewis... the union leader...
he spent his efforts working with the corporations who hired the miners...
when... if he had haunted the State Legislatures
with his demands for laws to protect his people...
laws to give them compensation comparable to their jobs.
Perhaps if his most famous words had been...
"Spend one day in a coal mine...
and tell me how much YOU would have to be paid...
to do it EVERY DAY."
And so, today...
with a population who have access to a world of information...
we can protest and declare truths and inform the world of injustices...
but the ole powers-that-be can still turn a deaf ear
and wield their power as they wish...
for whatever advantage or agenda they choose to attain.
They have power... and they push back with it.
How can oppressed people stand up to them...?
Do the people march on Washington?
Do they stage "Occupy" sit-ins?
Do they strike from their jobs... en masse?
Do they take them to court?
Do they expose these peoples' crimes and bigotries?
What can people do... under such uneven odds?
How about this...
How about demanding that every public meeting be televised...
and easily available to watch...
with a list of everything easily found on a State website.
How about...
publishing the history of judges... every case... every statement.
How about...
city governments answering email requests from citizens... on line.
How about...
reports on every government agency... and their audits... on line.
How about...
sunshine laws in every state... like Florida's law...
where ANY person can walk in to ANY government office
and ask to see any document or record they have...
ANONYMOUSLY... without CHARGING a fee.
If that means hiring a person who does ONLY that... so be it.
We take back our government... with SUN SHINE.
We put our Legislatures on prime time broadcasts... online.
We see how our judges decide their rulings... their history.
We have regular town meetings with our Representatives...
hmmm... how about the first Friday of every month...
7:30 pm... make them ALL show up... city, state, national.
Make your plans.
Write a good email... ask them to address it at the meeting.
Show up... with your kids... like it was church.
Speak truth to them and demand answers.
Support those who are working for the citizens.
Thank them.
Know what large corporations are corrupted...
and don't buy their products.
Let their sins be known to all.
If they have corrupted our politics...
they should know...
that we... know.
Just being exposed... will work its own magic.
end nearly a century of French colonial occupation.
With the Cold War intensifying, Vietnam is divided in two at Geneva.
Communists in the north aim to reunify the country,
while America supports Ngo Dinh Diem's untested regime in the south."
and tell me how much YOU would have to be paid...
to do it EVERY DAY."