Protesting and voting worked before — and will again
History is repeating itself.
The 1960s. I was in my teens.
The Vietnam War was in full swing. Daily body counts. You could be drafted at 18 but couldn’t vote until you were 21.
The Civil Rights Movement was also in full swing. Lots of resistance to it, much of it violent from white folks in Southern states but elsewhere, too.
Three assassinations in the 1960s. President John F. Kennedy. His brother, Robert Kennedy. Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King.
Several students were murdered by National Guardsmen at Kent State University in Ohio on May 4, 1970.
There were riots in many major cities.
In 1965, the song “Eve of Destruction” was released by Barry McGuire. One of the first major protest songs.
It was banned in many places because it was considered “anti-government.” It was labeled “leftist propaganda.” Because of the harsh criticism the song went to No. 1 in America.
The lyrics were cryptic. They still are. They come close to mirroring our current situation.
Here they are:
“The Eastern world, it is explodin’
Violence flarin’, bullets loadin’
You’re old enough to kill but not for votin’
You don’t believe in war, but what's that gun you’re totin’?
And even the Jordan River has bodies floatin'
But you tell me
Over and over and over again, my friend
How you don't believe
We're on the eve of destruction
Don’t you understand what I’m trying to say
Can't you feel the fears I’m feeling today?
If the button is pushed, there's no runnin' away
There'll be no one to save with the world in a grave
Take a look around you boy, it's bound to scare you, boy
And you tell me
Over and over and over again, my friend
How you don't believe
We're on the eve of destruction
Yeah, my blood's so mad, feels like coagulatin'
I'm sittin' here just contemplatin'
I can't twist the truth, it knows no regulation
Handful of senators don't pass legislation
And marches alone can't bring integration
When human respect is disintegratin'
This whole crazy world is just too frustratin'
And you tell me
Over and over and over again, my friend
How you don't believe
We're on the eve of destruction
And think of all the hate there is in Red China
Then take a look around to Selma, Alabama
Ah, you may leave here for four days in space
But when you return, it's the same old place
The poundin' of the drums, the pride and disgrace
You can bury your dead, but don't leave a trace
Hate your next door neighbor but don't forget to say grace
And you tell me
Over and over and over and over again, my friend
You don't believe we're on the eve of destruction
No, no, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.”
50,000 young men and women in uniform died in Vietnam.
Blacks and those supporting them during the Civil Rights movement were murdered.
Protests of the war and the injustices towards Blacks had an impact. (The “N” word was used publicly and often.
Ultimately, Black haters (racists) lost elections. The Supreme Court acted, making segregation illegal. Congress passed two voting rights laws.
Pressure on President Lyndon Baines Johnson and his administration was so intense over the war, and his lies about it, Johnson announced he would not seek re-election.
The country survived. Ask your parents or grandparents about those days.
By the mid 1970s, things had calmed down. There was a new normal. It was better than the previous one.
Today we sit in a similar situation. An unpopular war. An unpopular/lying president. An administration which is inept and corrupt.
Civil unrest is growing. No major citizen-created violence so far. But it is possible.
Federal employees/agents have caused today’s deaths, chaos and mayhem.
Our senators and members of Congress have basically “left the field.” No actions to make things right.
The Supreme Court appears to be just as dysfunctional as Congress and the administration. Their decisions seem inconsistent. At worst, blatantly prejudiced in favor of the corrupt administration.
We are in scary and nearly desperate times.
The power of you and me, We The People, will prevail. Bad senators and members of Congress will lose elections.
The number of people supporting the president is getting smaller each day.
Our job is to keep at it: Protest. Vote. Protest. Vote. Protest. Vote.
We were on the “Eve of Destruction” in the 1960s. Folks back then protested and voted.
It worked then.
It will work now.
The independent Rick Knobe is a former Sioux Falls mayor and a regular contributor to The South Dakota Standard.
Photo: The killing at Kent State, public domain, wikimedia commons (Editor’s note: I was a student at UCLA when this occurred. At our subsequent demonstrations/riots the repeated chant was “strike now before it’s too late, four killed at Kent State!” The campus was shut down for several days before order was restored – John Tsitrian)
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