Civil Disobedience and the In-Crowd

I got my AARP Bulletin the other day. That is a magazine that I keep, and read a little at a time as the articles about retirement and Social Security which used to be yawners are becoming more and more interesting.  I find that such a curious phenomenon!  It is reminiscent of how SMART my mother who had been soooooo dumb prior my 20th birthday (she actually wanted to meet my dates...it was MY life!) grew so smart overnight.  Now these old people in the AARP are suddenly (gasp) writing riveting articles when before they were dry as dust!  How they have improved that magazine!  *uh huh*

Anyway, there was an article in this one about the protests of the 1960's.  The title of the article is Social Change-In.  They chronicle this form of creative protest, beginning with one of the first one, the Woolworth's Sit-In in 1960 in Greendboro, NC., protesting the segregated lunch counters, that peaked in the fall with over 1,000 participants.  They talk about the Atlanta Sit-ins, the Free Speech Sit-Ins in Berkeley, and Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, protesting Self-importance, where Goldie Hawn got her start .  18.5 million viewers watched Laugh-In, including J. Edgar Hoover,  who opened  A FILE on the program after one skit spoofed him.   They mention one of the most iconic images of the Beatles, John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono in a protest, a Bed-In for Peace, protesting the Viet Nam War. 

One could even say that the original Sit-In, technically, was Rosa Parks, who at 42, in 1955, like several other people before her, refused to give up her seat to a white man, despite orders from the bus driver to do so.  When interviewed later, she said that she was just too tired to get up after working a full day as a housekeeper, but it was actually anger that was the spark.  In my imagination I can almost hear her internal voic, e sounding like Popeye, saying, "That's all I can stand, I can't stand no more!" 

These were peaceful demonstrations,  like the one led by Martin Luther King 50 years ago this November, where he delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech.  This is the one that Glenn Beck will notoriously try to co-opt for himself with his "Very Important Work" message. 

All of these protests, marches, demonstrations and other acts of civil disobedience were effective.  They worked because they were focused on a specific injustice perpetrated against a sector of the citizenry, and it was their righteous and rightful anger at being victimized, and their determination to find justice, much the same as the mothers of the EMS have protested the violations against themselves and their infants. 

I also remember the segment of the population that fought them.  In much of the nation, there was overt and covert prejudices.  One of the things that the protesters heard from their detractors was that they were angry, they needed to compromise to get along, that they were going to cause more problems if they didn't just stop and that others didn't really have a problem with their status and it was just a perceptual problem on the part of the protesters since no one could make you feel lesser. 

The worst detractors were the ones who lived in their own midst.  The Militant Blacks who had finally come out of their subservience and were demanding to be accepted as full citizens called their older, more frightened and cautious comrades, who just wanted to get along, didn't want to make waves, didn't want to cause any problems, didn't want to upset anyone Uncle Toms to indicate the contempt in which they were held.  The mothers of the EMS have fought with Mother Uncle Toms for decades, the ones who insist, despite all evidence to the contrary, that they are okay with their "decision' and they are at peace, or that the only ones who have rights are the Adoptees, because, after all, "we signed the papers" which seems to them to indicate the total signing away of all our rights as women, as human beings and as citizens of the United States, which the Constitution forbids!  We only signed away our rights to parent our children.  Not to never know them or to allow ourselves to be used, and abused over and over and over again.

They knew that in order to get justice, some people were going to get upset.  You can't make an omelet without breaking some  eggs, and the people with the power didn't want to let it go.  However, they perservered.  Sometimes their very righteous anger spilled over into the streets. There were the riots in Watts and Detroit and other cities, there were the campus marches, culminating in the horror of Kent State...."four dead in Ohio".....  The possibility of violence was always there, since the emotions ran high, they were passionate about their cause, and they were determined to find justice for themselves, and for the people who came after them. 

I learned today that one of the duties that legislators are charged with, as representatives of the people, is to protect the Peace and Safety.  Some states include that in almost all legislation that is passed that a particular pending legislation 'serves the Peace and Safety' of the state. Since at any moment, violence could erupt at these peaceful gatherings, the attention of the media, the Police and the National Guard was called to them.  The Legislators paid them mind, listened to what they had to say because they HAD to, and found that they were RIGHT and the things they were protesting WERE, indeed, illegal, unethical and violated their Constitutional, Human and Civil Rights.  They made the changes they were trying to make.  They GOT justice they sought.

Does ANY of this sound familiar?  Does ANY of this resonate with the EMS mothers who are seeking justice for the crimes committed against them and their newborn children during that time period?  Do ANY of these messages translate into today?

One of the things that we knew during the 1960's was the value of organization, and the means to achieve that.  There were strong Unions in the 1960's and Collective Bargaining was something with which we all were familiar.  We watched the picket lines, the strikes, the Unions exercise their rights.  Young people grew up in homes where such activities were status quo, and as familiar as the morning newspaper and the evening News broadcast.

However, in the 1980's, with the backs of the Unions broken, whether for good or for evil, that familiarity with the principles of organizaing was lost.  The art of compromise, of negotiation  was forgotten.   This became clear to me a  few years ago when  the contract the City of San Antonio and the SAPD expired.  There was talk of the coming Negotiations.  Texas is a Right to Work state, so Unions have a slender hold here, and Collective Bargaining was NEVER common here, but coming from Central Illinois, strong Union areas, I knew that the negotiations could be long, contentious and problematic. 

The Police Union sent their Representative to the Collective Bargaining Session with the City Manager's representative to begin what was anticipated to be an extended session of bargaining.  The Police Union Representative laid out their carefully crafted Wish List offer, fully expecting to be met with the City's counter offer, expecting to negotiate to a place somewhere in between, where neither side would be totally satisfied, but both would be okay.  Instead, the City of San Antonio ACCEPTED their Wish List Offer, lock, stock and barrel, with the only stipulation that they couldn't re-negotioate a new contract for an extra year or so.  Needless to say, the Police Representative accepted, since they got every single thing they asked for!  However, the City of San Antonio spent the next several years complaining about the "brutal negotiations". 

HUH?  What Negotiations?  Clearly, they had NO understanding, whatsoever, as to what Bargaining entails.  Coming from IL I was flabbergasted!  What part of Negotiations did they NOT understand....? the NEGOTIATE part?  

Possibly the Senior Mothers of SMAAC who lived through the 1960's, the height of the EMS, would do well to remember the lessons that are in danger of being lost about peaceful protests, passive resistance, civil disobedience.  Anger is NOT a bad thing, if it is used with purpose, direction and focus.  It is only when it is scattered, unfocused, or repressed and denied that it becomes toxic and shameful.   I am going to dust off my Protester Thinking Cap on and see what comes out.  I think that perhaps the methods should match the time and it is time to adjust our planning.... perhaps someday, We, too, shall overcome!  I can dream too, Dr. King.