Like many others I know, my heart was with you. I considered and reconsidered and decided (again!) that there are some things I no longer feel safe doing — limited eyesight, uncertain mobility, impaired hearing. In a word: old-age. Yes. It feels like it’s a one-word, one-dimensional condition these days and, mostly I refuse to give in to it. But, this time, I consoled myself that I will have to make my protests known in other ways. Even though two different people offered me rides and urged me to go, I spent the day at home in solitude — mostly looking back.
I thought about the early 1960s when Charlie was just beginning school. I was married to Bill LaRue, Marta’s father. We lived in Hayward, Calif. in the East Bay — both of us teaching (me in Hayward, Bill in Oakland) and volunteering in Mario Savio’s after-school recreation program for kids in Berkeley — 25 minutes away. As I remember, it was a program sponsored by the Berkeley Recreation Department focused on schools in predominately black areas of Berkeley and, somehow eventually led to a push toward “bussing” as a method of desegregating the public schools. Somehow, Mario reached out to nearby school districts to get teacher volunteers to be a “presence” on school playgrounds, distribute and collect equipment (mostly basketballs as I remember) and give any kids in Berkeley a chance to play. Maybe some of my readers will remember more details and fill in.
And I thought about The Vietnam Protest on an April Saturday in 1967 when 60,000 to 100,000 of us marched from downtown S.F. to the Kezar Stadium. Was it that time or another time that Joan Baez sang? And I remember how strongly we felt that we were not “heard” and how bitter we became before the war finally ended eight years later. But we never gave up — we continue to honor our Viet Nam Vets and still try to express that it was the war we were protesting, not those who were serving their country by laying their lives on the line.
Bottom line — Democracy is complicated. To live by its precepts requires your heart and your mind and your commitment. It’s a “gift” that we have to continue to nurture and, if necessary, fight for. And so… I feel badly that I wasn’t in Long Beach yesterday with other No Kings Protestors. Thank you to all of you who WERE there. I hope you know you were representing many of us who felt unable to join you!…