Memorial Day May 25, 2015

Yes, today is a day to remember the dead -- not to glorify why they died, just that they did.


Some died for righteous reasons -- ending slavery, ending fascism, ending oppression. But others died in the name of Empire, unfettered capitalism, greed, psychopathic revenge, religious zealotry, inept foreign policy and artificial patriotism.


Honoring them means remembering them. And I feel mostly sad that many of them died long before they got a chance to really live and experience what joy that can be gleaned from life.


I do abhor those fake zealots, though, who wrap themselves in flag and a mythology of God when they remember these folks -- who are the most boisterous singing the National Anthem and loudest singing God Bless America at ballgames -- and who would never serve themselves or allow their children to serve -- but who are more than willing to see the others die for the artifice of "our Freedoms." The others being the poor, the less advantaged, and the ethnic minorities.

 
So yes, the dead should be remembered. But for why they really died, should be remembered as well.

45 years ago exactly to the day (Friday, May 1, 1970) In New Haven @ Yale Unversity there was a two day Free Bobby Seale rally sponsored by the Black Panthers. I was there. On Saturday, May 2nd, the rest of the Chicago Eight including Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Dave Dellinger and Tom Hayden spoke out for Bobby Seale; and then they called for a national student strike with three demands: 1) Free Bobby Seale, 2)End the war in Vietnam, and 3) Free all political prisoners.

"New Haven Panther Rally Avoids Violence 'til Dark"

On Monday, May 4th, four students @ Kent State University, Ohio were shot to death by the National Guard.

@ the time, I was an 18 almost 19 year old high school drop-out working as a general laborer for a mostly African American inner city rehab construction company renovating old apartment buildings in Roxbury, MA for affordable housing for low income mostly African American families. On Tuesday, May 5th, I was out on a materials pick up with one of the other construction workers when we got entangled with a student protest walking down Mass Ave towards the Mass Ave Bridge to Harvard Square in Cambridge. I got out of the pick up truck and joined the protesters. The next day I quit my job and joined the student strike, which lasted most of the month.

One month later, the beginning of June, I was recruited to paint houses in Mill Valley, CA -- and along with three other people hopped into a beat up old retired 1962 Bell Telephone van and drove three days across the country. It was the first time I left the Northeast (farthest away I had ever been was Washington DC). But that is another story that I will talk about in June.

One particular memory is from that May 1st Friday night when some militant protesting was going on — tear gas everywhere -- in the middle of a quad green on the Yale Campus (where we were billeted for the the two days), Allen Ginsburg was sitting cross legged on a stage chanting into a microphone. Tears streaming down his face, he did not break stride in his intonations. Meanwhile an assistant periodically wiped Ginsburg's face of sweat and tears so he could continue his chanting.

Needless to say, the events in New Haven 45 years ago today had a dramatic impact on my life. And I will always remember it.