[Oe List ...] Lessons from the Riots of 1968

[Doris Hahn]

Thank you for sharing this, Herman.
Doris Hahn

On Mon, Jun 1, 2020 at 3:31 PM Ellie Stock via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
wrote:

> Thanks, Herman.  Well said.
>
> Ellie
> elliestock at aol.com
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Herman Greene via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
> To: OE Listserv <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
> Cc: Herman Greene <hfgreenenc at gmail.com>
> Sent: Mon, Jun 1, 2020 10:40 am
> Subject: [Oe List ...] Lessons from the Riots of 1968
>
> I just submitted this letter to the editor of the Raleigh News & Observer
>
> *Lessons from the Riots of 1968*
>
> In 1968, I lived in the East Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago, which
> was to be the center of the riots following Martin Luther King, Jr.’s death
> on Thursday, April 4. I was part of a community that was engaged in
> community reformulation in a 22-square block area. We lived in a
> one-square-block seminary campus; the seminary had moved to the suburbs as
> part of white flight. On the evening of April 5th (it was Good Friday), I
> watched out of a third-floor window as fires were lit one after another.
> They came closer and closer and eventually our building was set on
> fire—thankfully, we were able to put the fires out. Organizers had
> identified white-owned businesses, and these were the targets. The only
> grocery story in the neighborhood was burned—it would not be replaced for
> 10 years. Looting was rampant. The National Guard was brought in. It was
> surreal.
>
> Protests and riots are related but different. Riots it is said are the
> voice of the voiceless, but what a confusing and often destructive voice.
> Protest comes from anger, riots from rage and the desire for payback
> against a generalized other. In the 60s the civil rights movement, the Viet
> Nam war, and the intolerable deterioration of inner-city urban life tore
> into the American soul. Today pandemic, economic collapse, and blatant
> racism torch our collective anxiety and despair. Then Richard Nixon called
> on the “moral majority” to put down anarchy. There is little doubt in my
> mind that the chaos of the riots and protests or the late 60s led to the
> conservative turn in our nation, which began with Nixon.
>
> Protests barely make the news these days, but riots and violence do. Along
> with riots and violence come the widely divergent responses of the people.
> Compared with Trump, Nixon was a healer—he appealed to a mythical majority
> to restore order and decency. Trump appeals only to his base and incites
> rage to counter rage, division to counter division, and distraction to
> avoid addressing the serious problems we face.
>
> It will take a miracle for our country to come together, for decency and
> tolerance to reign. May those who engage in senseless violence cease, and
> those who take what is not theirs stop. May we give up our carefully
> constructed culture wars. May those who foment anger for gain come to their
> senses. We cannot afford another 50-year detour into us versus them. We are
> the *United *States and there is so much we need to do together.
>
> Herman Greene
> Chapel Hill, NC
>
> --
> __________________________________________________
> Herman F. Greene
> 2516 Winningham Road
> Chapel Hill, NC 27516
> 919-942-4358 (ph & fax)
> hfgreenenc at gmail.com
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