<div dir="ltr">Thank you for sharing this, Herman.<div>Doris Hahn</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, Jun 1, 2020 at 3:31 PM Ellie Stock via OE <<a href="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net">oe@lists.wedgeblade.net</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
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<div>Thanks, Herman. Well said.</div>
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<div>Ellie </div>
<div><a href="mailto:elliestock@aol.com" target="_blank">elliestock@aol.com</a></div>
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<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica;font-size:10pt;color:black">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Herman Greene via OE <<a href="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net" target="_blank">oe@lists.wedgeblade.net</a>><br>
To: OE Listserv <<a href="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net" target="_blank">oe@lists.wedgeblade.net</a>><br>
Cc: Herman Greene <<a href="mailto:hfgreenenc@gmail.com" target="_blank">hfgreenenc@gmail.com</a>><br>
Sent: Mon, Jun 1, 2020 10:40 am<br>
Subject: [Oe List ...] Lessons from the Riots of 1968<br>
<br>
<div id="gmail-m_511494759930541447yiv5691905866">
<div dir="ltr">I just submitted this letter to the editor of the Raleigh News & Observer
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<div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><b>Lessons from the Riots of 1968</b></div>
<div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">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 5<sup>th</sup> (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. </div>
<div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">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.</div>
<div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">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. </div>
<div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">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
<i>United </i>States and there is so much we need to do together.</div>
<div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Herman Greene</div>
<div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Chapel Hill, NC </div>
<div><br>
</div>
-- <br>
<div dir="ltr">__________________________________________________
<div>Herman F. Greene</div>
<div>2516 Winningham Road</div>
<div>Chapel Hill, NC 27516</div>
<div>919-942-4358 (ph & fax)</div>
<div><a href="mailto:hfgreenenc@gmail.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">hfgreenenc@gmail.com</a></div>
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