Dear Family
and Friends: March,
2018
“I watched
the news last night, oh boy…” I did
indeed watch the news last night and it was OH BOY. Through an optimistic eye I saw hundreds of
thousands take to the streets in protest.
In 1968 we sang, “We shall not, we shall not be moved. Just like a tree that’s standing by the water,
we shall not be moved.” And just like
that old gospel song turned into a protest song, I witnessed what it said, “young and old
together, we shall not be moved; black and white together, we shall not be moved;
gay and straight together, we shall not be moved; all religions together, we
shall not be moved.” It was an emotional
news day, yesterday. And I certainly was moved.
But with a
pessimistic eye I recalled those days of marches and sit-ins in the late
60’s. I remember holding the
representatives of Dow chemical, manufacturers of the Vietnam war chemical weapon agent orange, hostage (if only during working hours that
one day) so they couldn’t hold interviews on campus in Champaign/Urbana. I remember smelling tear gas on the streets
of the University of Wisconsin. I
remember feeling like I was part of a Movement that was going to change the
world. Yes, that war ended five years
later, but not because of anything I did.
It’s true
that we couldn’t communicate (read organize) then the way these kids can
today. We didn’t have Facebook pages or
events, tweets or instant this and that.
But even so, pessimistically I
can’t help but think that summer’s coming, and with that, jobs at McDonalds, camp, resume
building internships, all of which may get in the way of this generation's great momentum.
But there
definitely is energy and commitment to an obtainable ideal. Something more doable than ending a war
thousands of miles away. Here’s the ray
of light. I heard chants and saw signs
to the effect of, “We will vote you out.”
Many of those kids out on Pennsylvania Avenue yesterday and hundreds of
thousands more will be 18 by 2020. Our
voting statistics are deplorable. Maybe this swell of activism will lead to a
million more registered voters. And
maybe those registered voters will actually vote for candidates that will
represent them.
I think that
should be the goal of this “Movement.”
Maybe we can help. Maybe somehow
we, the older folks, can continue to articulate the message, “GO AND REGISTER
TO VOTE,” and then, “GET OUT AND VOTE.”
I don’t exactly know how to do this, but I am going to try and keep this
message alive here at Indiana University, and at the high schools in
Bloomington. I’m going to call the
League of Women Voters and see if there isn’t a way to bring voter registration
to the schools. Let’s register a million
voters, even more, so we can vote them out and vote them in. Politicians care more about votes than they
do demonstrations. Let’s vote them out!
Ron
