Post by stormbird on Oct 17, 2011 12:54:45 GMT -5
2011 - "American Autumn" occupiers follow "Arab Spring."
Is the pendulum swinging back to the 1960's? The Occupy Wall Street protestors look vaguely familiar to Baby Boomers.
I was a young observer during the upheavals in the 1960's and the 1970's, working at a newspaper in Los Angeles county and raising two baby sons. I vividly remember the peaceful protests against the Vietnam War, my husband was drafted, and I remember the haunted and confused look on the faces of my former classmates when they returned from Vietnam.
I remember the day that Martin Luther King gave his famous speech at the peaceful 1963 March on Washington, and I remember the Woodstock Music Festival in 1969 where 500,000 people showed up and food and sanitation facilities quickly became overwhelmed, but everyone had a good time and no mass arrests or catastrophic shootings occurred.
By 1970, the U.S. political climate underwent some profound changes. I remember Kent State and the death of protesters at the hands of the National Guard in May 1970. I hope today's Governors, National Guard and local law enforcement remember the lessons learned from Kent State and the forced resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974 as a result of corruption.
Today, our youth are once again on the march, challenging corruption at all levels, testing their 1st Amendment rights of freedom of speech, peaceable assembly and petitioning for governmental redress of grievances: They have plenty of grievances and rightly so. It is their future that is being squandered. This "Occupation" movement is as natural for American youth as breathing air. It's a part of their heritage and it should be accommodated and understood by society and our government. Do we want our future potential leaders to become apathetic and indulgent of corruption because it is an accepted way of life? Of course not ---
www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Occupiers-Must-Pack-Up-Police-131830673.html
chnm.gmu.edu/hardhats/kent.html
Kent State
Akron, Ohio
May 4, 1970
www2.kenyon.edu/khistory/60s/title.htm#killed
Is the pendulum swinging back to the 1960's? The Occupy Wall Street protestors look vaguely familiar to Baby Boomers.
I was a young observer during the upheavals in the 1960's and the 1970's, working at a newspaper in Los Angeles county and raising two baby sons. I vividly remember the peaceful protests against the Vietnam War, my husband was drafted, and I remember the haunted and confused look on the faces of my former classmates when they returned from Vietnam.
I remember the day that Martin Luther King gave his famous speech at the peaceful 1963 March on Washington, and I remember the Woodstock Music Festival in 1969 where 500,000 people showed up and food and sanitation facilities quickly became overwhelmed, but everyone had a good time and no mass arrests or catastrophic shootings occurred.
By 1970, the U.S. political climate underwent some profound changes. I remember Kent State and the death of protesters at the hands of the National Guard in May 1970. I hope today's Governors, National Guard and local law enforcement remember the lessons learned from Kent State and the forced resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974 as a result of corruption.
Today, our youth are once again on the march, challenging corruption at all levels, testing their 1st Amendment rights of freedom of speech, peaceable assembly and petitioning for governmental redress of grievances: They have plenty of grievances and rightly so. It is their future that is being squandered. This "Occupation" movement is as natural for American youth as breathing air. It's a part of their heritage and it should be accommodated and understood by society and our government. Do we want our future potential leaders to become apathetic and indulgent of corruption because it is an accepted way of life? Of course not ---
www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Occupiers-Must-Pack-Up-Police-131830673.html
chnm.gmu.edu/hardhats/kent.html
Kent State
Akron, Ohio
May 4, 1970
www2.kenyon.edu/khistory/60s/title.htm#killed