While much of what Ruben criticizes the anti-Vietnam war movement for is
true, it is far too generalized and seems to indicate that he never
really became a part of it after he returned from Vietnam. Otherwise, he
might, for one thing, have known that neither David Horowitz nor Jerry
Brown were leaders of the movement; Brown, in fact, was not even around.
Horowitz was always an ivory tower radical, unable to connect with real
people doing real activities, so that when he finally hooked up with the
Black Panthers at a time when it was quite clear that Huey Newton had
corrupted the organization, his total lack of "street smarts" made him
the ideal sucker. That he has become a racist neo-fascist was not really
a betrayal because he never was really part of the movement he now makes
a handsome living criticizing.
Hayden, however, fits into Ruben's view nicely. Like Bob Scheer, he did
decide to work within the system and has profited mightily. He lives
with his sons in the all white neighborhood of Brentwood, just a notch
below Bel Air, and sent his kids to the "best" schools, while
maintaining the pretense of being connected to the progressive movement.
But there were others, not so well known, who did make the racist
connections of the Vietnam war and made it clear who was sent over to
fight it and who was not. And the racist nature of that war and exposing
its links to racism home were an important component of the anti-war
movement's public statements.
While it's true that the anti-war movement created a culture of its own,
it was considerably more than "a fun thing to do." And it was also less
than how many of those within it, remember it.
Jeff Blankfort
ruben (via radman) wrote
>
> sixties-l-digest Friday, March 30 2001 Volume 01 : Number 536
>
> From: "Blazing Star" <sananda@hotmail.com>
> Subject: * True colors
> Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2001
> Homelessworld Mailing List
>
> MODNOTE: Most people have eyes but do not see, and ears but do not hear.
> I saw most "Sixties Radicals", as pigs, then. I see most of them, as pigs, now.
>
> I started organizing against the Vietnam war, shortly after returning from
> it, in the Sixties, and saw the lack of understanding and commitment most
> anti-war movement "leaders" had, to the cause. Granted, I was brainwashed,
> into joining the Marines, to fight and die for my country, but I quickly
> learned, after a few short hours in boot camp, that I screwed up, big-time,
> and I have been trying, to make amends, ever since.
>
> The Peace Movement was the "fun thing to do" for many bourgeois California
> college students, during the Vietnam era, and even today. I joined the
> Marines, in 1965, after graduating from high school, in Southern
> California, so I had and have a much different perspective, in terms of
> fighting for peace and other worthy causes, as most of you are surely
> aware, by now.
>
> As a Chicano, I instinctively related, to the type of poverty, racism and
> oppression the U.S. was subjecting the Vietnamese people to, very much.
> Most anti-war protesters were totally unaware of this aspect of the war,
> and of the true nature of the military and America's racist agenda.
>
> Most of the anti-war protesters knew nothing about what it is like, to be
> poor and oppressed, due to the color of your skin, all your life, and their
> leaders didn't usually care, to hear about it. I would often have to force
> the issue of racism onto White liberal and leftist agendas, as these
> leaders struggled, to keep our U.S. Minority demands out of the picture,
> altogether.
>
> I personally saw the huge disproportionate numbers of Non-White "grunts"
> (infantrymen), who were sent to the frontlines of Vietnam, to die or be
> maimed for life, while soldiers mostly from the middle- and upper classes
> literally partied, in the rear. Mostly U.S. Minorities and poor Whites were
> mowed down, in Vietnam, along with many more innocent people whose only
> "offense" was being born Vietnamese.
>
> This is what I was trying to convey, to the Peace Movement, in the Sixties
> and Seventies, but most of its White leaders had a much different agenda,
> as we can see much more clearly, today. We not only had to contend with the
> racism, in society-at-large and the military, there was no less racism
> against us, in the Peace Movement, then, and even now.
>
> Nevertheless, American and Vietnamese people were still being slaughtered,
> over there, so I put up with the racist leaders, in the Peace Movement, to
> help stop the killing, in Vietnam, knowing full well once the war ended,
> these superstar "radicals" would go back, to their ritzy lives of sex,
> drugs and rock-n-roll, leaving the rest of us, to cope on our own, with the
> poverty and oppression we were trapped in, all along.
>
> These scoundrels always tried, to act like they really liked us Non-White
> activists, showing us off like trophies, to each other, as they struggled,
> to become the main leaders of their packs. Most of them were children of
> the rich and well-to-do, with the luxury of calling mommy and daddy for
> money, transportation or a lawyer, after a drug bust, unwanted pregnancy or
> whatever.
>
> David Horowitz is a good example of these so-called "Sixties radicals,"
> along with Tom Hayden, Jerry Brown and many other racists, once labelled
> "leftists" and "revolutionaries," by the establishment. The establishment
> is now showing off these "born-again racists," like trophies, to prove how
> right and superior White racists were, all along.
>
> Even with their long hair, fancy speeches, free drugs and loose ways, I
> always saw these so-called radicals of the Sixties and Seventies, as the
> racists they still are, and will always be. Most people do not become less
> racist, as they age, they become more racist, as Horowitz is proving.
>
> Non-Whites see the same problem, in today's environmental movement, where
> most "White liberals" and "White radicals" would rather fight for anything
> but against the poverty and oppression their parents and other elders are
> subjecting millions of Americans to. These children of the rich and
> well-to-do come for sex, drugs and rock-n-roll, just like some of their
> parents used to do, at mass demonstrations of the past.
>
> Today's "radicals" come, in droves, to Northern California, where I now
> live; not so much, to protest the rape of our redwood forests, as to have
> "fun, fun, fun!" In the meantime, their parents and other elders, also
> labelled "radicals" in their youth, are exploiting, oppressing,
> incarcerating and killing millions of poor and Non-White Americans to, in
> every-which-way they can get away with, across the country.
>
> Many of today's "radicals" will come out of the closet, to capitalize on
> their racist views, in the future, just like David Horowitz is doing, now.
> There is more racism in America, now, than ever, but more ways to hide it,
> too. paz, ruben
>
>
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