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

[Patricia Tuecke]

Profound. Blessed Be.
Pat

On Wed, Jun 3, 2020 at 8:41 AM Doris Hahn via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
wrote:

> 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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