-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Garrison <mgarrison@localaccess.com>
To: sixties-l@lists.village.virginia.edu
<sixties-l@lists.village.virginia.edu>
Date: Monday, June 19, 2000 1:44 PM
Subject: Necrology
If members of the list find themselves wondering about the relevance of
discussion concerning the historical approach we should take in
honoring/condemning those individuals involved in the Viet-Nam war they
might be interested in my recent experience here in Centralia, Wa.
concerning the historical recognition pertaining to the 1919 Centralia
Tragedy. If you think it is odd that we cannot come to grips with the facts
of events of 30 or 40 years ago, imagine my trials trying to deal with a
community that is having trouble with the facts of events that occurred 80
years ago. The erection of a labor mural dedicated to the lynched IWW
member, Wesly Everest, directly facing the Legion Statue honoring the 4
Legionaries killed by the IWW caused this community to face its past and
confront its history. A recent dedication of a plaque at the local
Community College which acknowledged the IWW attorney, Elmer Smith caused a
similar outpouring of emotions on both sides of this historical controversy.
With the Viet-Nam war so much larger in scale and importance we must assume
that the debate will last well beyond our lifetimes.
If a statue to the soldiers depicted them with peace signs on and recognized
the roll the grunts played in ending the war by their "field refusal" to
take aggressive actions and their local truce agreements with the VC...you
don't attack me and I won't attack you...I would support an honoring. If it
is to recognize them as being just good Germans I would not. History is
decided years after the events take place, which is why I attempted to
gather support for an anti-war reunion a few years ago on the anniversary of
the March on the Pentagon. We can let the "Stab-in-the-back" theory prevail
or we can work for the truth to win out. For myself, I have found that a
great comparison for the Viet-Nam events is the American Revolutionary
history. We could not beat the Vietnamese for the same reasons that the
British could not beat us and this comparison is useful when discussing the
events with "patriotic" people. By the way, a few copies of a reprint of
the Washington Free Press coverage of the March on the Pentagon are still
available via. BookZen.
A quick comment on another thread. I was one of those YAF/SDS persons
(although the SDS part must be qualified as I was never an official "member"
of the group but I worked with them on projects). In its early anarchistic,
anti-draft, Goldwater state the YAF libertarian philosophy was much like the
early anti-war libertarian philosophy of the left. After the Nixonians got
control of YAF I was "asked" to leave it and after the Stalinist got control
of my left wing group I was "asked" to leave, so I have the distinction of
being thrown out of both the far right and the far left! Luckily the
hippies took me to their bosoms, healed my pain and helped me to live to
fight another day. Peace and Love to you all...never give up. Mike
Garrison, mgarrison@localaccess.com
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