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Family and Friends is my everyday journal. Captain's Log is where I pontificate on religion and politics.

Saturday, April 25, 2020

Why we resist


Never give up! Never give up! Never never never never never give up! ---Winston Churchill.

This is a treatise on the resistance movements in the 1900's through today. Many of the early marches and threatened marches for equal rights were obscure to me. It was a slow process for women to get the right to vote, African Americans to be able to fight, and the desegregation of the military. 
I grew up with the civil rights movement and watched on TV the freedom marches, freedom rides and saw the hate and repression. I remember the protests against Vietnam and was faced with being drafted. 
I exulted in the court rulings freeing up stereotypes. Rules against men having hair too long, women able to wear pants instead of dresses. Rulings against obscenity allowing swear words and nudity in movies. I really like nudity in movies, still do, though now more of it is on streaming services like HBO, Showtime and Starz than movies.
When Berry reaches the 80's and our slow descent into tyranny from Reagan to the present it points to the need to keep resisting, to keep marching and most importantly to keep voting against the forces of conformity and repression. It's also disheartening that one victory--Roe v Wade has proved so costly and one defeat--the ERA amendment has kept women still second class citizens.
Side note, Mark Rudd, a member of the Weather Underground is mentioned with the group. I heard Rudd give a presentation at Southwest Writer's Workshop around 7 or 8 years ago. He was promoting his book. I even bought it. (My father is still rolling in his grave). He was in hiding and working construction in Santa Fe, and once charges were dropped has taught at first the Technical Vocational Institute in Albuquerque, now CNM. 
My review is here.

2 comments:

Berthold Gambrel said...

I haven't been reading much non-fiction lately, but this sounds like a good read.

P M Prescott said...

It was enlightening, Berthold.