That Was Then
In essence, I whole-heartedly agree with T. Freedman’s “Let’s Get Busy” (Letters, Dec. 14). However, what he advocates is no longer possible. I met Harry Belafonte briefly in the 1960s. I marched with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee led by Stokely Carmichael in downtown Jackson, Miss. I was beaten and incarcerated by the cops. I registered 35 blacks to vote in KKK-controlled Amite County, the first to ever register in that county. Yes, we won then. And, no, contrary to Belafonte, it was the rednecks that did the kicking and killing. Lots of it.
Nonviolence will be useless against the mad-dog generals Trump has brought out of retirement for his cabinet. When Trump, draft-deferred for a spur in his foot that magically disappeared, saw that those running the military were not in sympathy with him, he found those who were.
As a civilian with USAID Refugee Division in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, I did not recognized these generals’ names, but I did recognize their lunatic-fringed, murder-mad faces. They looked like the captains and majors I met working with the CIA’s Phoenix Program. They would tell me frequently, “If I were in charge, I’d nuke Hanoi. That would bring the war to a sudden halt.” Well, they’ll be in charge soon. China may feel that it’s wise to strike first?
Now with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of predator-drones armed with nuke missiles, they’ll put civil rights advocates like me to a sudden end. And they would not shed a single tear.
Michael Moore said that there would no longer be any elections. And there won’t be.
Santa Rosa
Hip to Be Square
Memo to Mr. Madgalene (Open Mic,
Dec. 14): Sorry, pal, but the knee-jerk, liberal rhetoric you spout regarding hip-hop and rap only lays bare the lameness contained within, thereby exposing what you so badly wish to be but ain’t: hip.
Sir, I dare you—make that double dare you—to go into the ‘hood and repeat those comments, and I guarantee you will come out with, at the least, a good poke in the eye, if not tarred and feathered. Rap and hip-hop aren’t dead, but obviously you and those like you are. Go back to watching television—your “little screen.” Apparently it’s what you do best.
Thank God for the Bohemian‘s letters to the editor and Open Mic, otherwise I’m not sure I would know what to do with myself.
Sonoma Valley
Stand Up
How blessed we are to be so directly connected with people and activities supporting Standing Rock. Will Parrish’s recent articles in the Bohemian from Standing Rock have been awesome. Thanks be to all.
Via Bohemian.com
You have just won my heart forever, North Bay Bohemian.
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