At 03:38 PM 4/30/96 -0400, you wrote:
>This is just a comment on some recent postings.
>
>I've noticed that some posts critical of certain aspects of the sixties (or
>emphasizing issues like drugs) have been met with negative responses. Some of
>that negativity is warranted--for example, when broad and vague statements of
>opinion are presented as fact. There are a lot of intelligent and critical
>folks in this group, and it is to be expected that such postings will be
>criticized, especially if they challenge one's beliefs and take a different
>point of view.
>
>But I've also noticed a few postings which seem to claim a sort of
copyright to >the sixties--i.e., "how can you 1.) be critical or
2.)overemphasize things like >drugs and hedonism when we were all working
sincerely for social justice and >I've been doing so continuously since",
that sort of thing. I find these kinds >of responses harder to deal with.
>
>Not that I question the sincerity of the writers or their commitment.
But it >seems to me that this group is about "the sixties" and should be
open to lots of >different perceptions. I suspect that persons
predominantly interested in the >social justice aspects of the sixties may
be a tad overrepresented on this list >compared with those whose lives
were shaped by the era in other ways. There >ought to be room for lots of
different perceptions, recollections and inquiries >without imposing
social justice as a screening device for the era.
>Jeff Apfel
>
Alas, I've felt the same way reading some of the posts in here.
Having bad memories from that era with many of the "social justice"
activists, I've been hesitant to post here. There's a whole side of the
sixties and early seventies that is rarely mentioned or commented on. An
almost unknown group of people who played a large part of that time and at
times was the backbone of many movements.
I spent eight years of my life during those times living on the
streets. We were "street people". Some people knew us as Freaks, The
MotherFuckers, The STP family, the socially inept masses that were recruited
many times by activists (and betrayed many times) to participate in anti-war
protests. We were usually the ones who got their heads busted, thrown in
jail to rot without political action fronts to bail us out. I wasted many
hours listening to the elite of the anti-war movement, where actions
betrayed words.
For us drugs, music and sex WERE defining parts of that time. My
whole conciousness was shaped by large doses of mind altering drugs,
alchohol, wild music and yes even ORGIES. (egads!)
It seems most revolutions forget the common people. Life has to be
lived at its lowest level and sometimes it was hard to concentrate of
marxist theory when you have hunger pains and your cold.
I remember laughing in the face of McGovern supporters in Harvard
Square one day. Why? Because we knew that he would betray us like all
politicians would. All we had was our brothers and sisters. It was a large
movement with networks all over the country. And we were, by our own nature,
radicals. But we became "politically concious" not by any lectures from the
SDS (who we saw flee many a time in action), but by our struggle to survive
on the streets. We lived side by side with the whores, pimps, thieves, winos
and other "street scum" of the time.
In my case, out of necessity, I picked up a gun and decided to fight
back. I know why the Black Panthers, The BLA, AIM, and the SLA reached the
point of violent resistance. I also know why they never succeeded. Talk is
cheap!
Sorry if this sounds bitter, but the deaths of many family still
gnaw at me at times. Sometimes you can't "analyze" the actions of people
unless you know all they go through. There were many factors involved with
this part of our history. Confusion and bewilderment to me were two of the
most powerful ones.
I watched friends go away to Vietnam and never come back and I fought side
by side on the streets with veterans that got spit on when they returned.
Racism always puzzled me, it never made sense to me and still to
this day I can't believe it's stupidity. How can you make sense growing up
with "duck and cover", Ozzie and Harriet, The Beaver, watching the Kennedys
shot on TV, Watts burning and Dr. King in a pool of blood? LSD and Jimi, the
whole social fabric collapsing around you and at the same time deal with
raging hormones and pimples?
I'm still trying to make sense of the whole mess. Believe me though.
There we're few I knew in any movement that didn't have some ulterior
motive. I learned that lesson the hard way. The closest portrayal I can
remember is Forrest Gump. There were many true moments in that film and
capture some of the confusion, yet blind loyalty to friends, regardless of
race (because that was a concept Forrest never grasped) that existed at that
time.
Some much for my three sense!
Venceremos.
Morgan M. Morgan Anchorage, Alaska The Smog Shop 907-243-4793