Select this to read [the Whole Story].i think our social fabric has been torn because the ideals and activism of that generation was not incorporated into the social landscape, but brutally excluded by those in power...
When you started organizing at high schools, where did the hostility
come from? Do you
have any stories you can remember to illustrate their hostility?
You started organizing peace marches in a safe suburban town at
the same time the marches were going on in DC. I would like to know
some more details about the first march you organized, if I could.
let me answer both of these in a somewhat roundabout way.to start, the day was absolutely gorgeous, perfect marching weather. this was a big moment for me because, while i had been taken to untold numbers of protests, this was the first i had organized myself. i was excited, but scared that it wouldn't come off, and scared that i wouldn't know what to do if it was successful. the whole plan was very low key - we were meeting at the high school and marching down a couple of the back streets to the main route into town and then to the town green, where a couple of speeches from local politicos and peaceniks were planned.
a fair group of us gathered at the high school. there were roughly 75, mostly students and teachers, some parents, and a few peace organizers who couldn't get to DC. we kind of milled around for a while, and then sort of came to a consensus to start off. we were accompanied by a few police, which seemed to me to be a ludicrous precaution at the time.
we were walking together without any chanting or organized behavior, just chatting among ourselves. there was an incredible spirit of joy and solidarity, and a sort of pride in taking a visible stand. and there was a sense of uniting across the gaps, teachers and students, adults and kids. and, suprisingly enough, there was an ease with letting the students be the leaders and directing the program.
we were fine 'til we hit the main drag. there was a hostile crowd with bats and sticks and rocks standing in our way intent on preventing us from marching. i was stunned. these were the same people that i had seen and chatted amiably with a million times in town. i will never forget the look on the cops' faces. they were scared, but mostly confused. kids were valued very highly in my town, so there was no way they were going to let the mob hurt us. but the mob was composed of what the cops had always thought of as the quintessetial "good citizens" and they couldn't see coming down hard on them either.
finally, they radioed for backup from all cops on duty (remember, it was a little town). they formed a human barrier between us and the mob and escorted us into town.
this confrontation changed many things. first of all, it created an extraordinary sense of solidarity among those of us in the protest. the speeches on the green were much more ringing than previously intended, and carried promises of future action. people who were inactive before joined to show support.
it also solidifed the other side in rage. after all, they were the authorities in the town, and they had tried to stop the march, and the cops hadn't obeyed. many who were not a part of the mob simply ignored the violence in it, and reacted to the inability of adults to assert power over the youth. the entire aniwar effort became viewed not as a peace movement, or a moral dilemma, but a generational conflict.
it became plain that there were many issues at stake beyond a war half a globe away. after all, no one who opposed the antiwar march was talking about national seucurity issues or needing to stop the threat of communism, or even our responsiblity to support our allies. the key sentiment was "my country right or wrong, but my country." what they were really opposed to was taking an open stand against a decision made by our government. we had become traitors for daring to influence our own government, for daring to exercise our freedoms to assemble and speak.
this event had some other personal effects on me. the whole plan for a local demonstation of support essentially came about out of my disappointment in not being allowed to go to dc. i had not expected it to have a real impact. but in fact it galvanized town opinion in a direct way that the march in dc did not. it made the subsequent marches in dc more connected to people in town. it made me realize that acting in whatever environment you find yourself is worthwhile.
it also gave me a little taste of what it is like *not* to be on the side of the priveleged. growing up white and wealthy, i wasn't accustomed to having to defend my actions against the powers that be. around this time, the aclu was fighting to allow the nazis to march in skokie, and it was made painfully clear to me how important it was to allow basic rights to *everyone* whether you liked them or not. after all, my town would have prevented me from marching if they could.
Select this to read [the Whole Story].
