Historic
Conjunctions: 1968 and 2020
Since the time of the Occupy Movement (2011-12) and
the Black Lives Matter Movement (2012) those of us who’ve been around since the
1960s have heard from the current generation of activists that you’re tired of hearing
about the 60s and 70s, because if we accomplished so much back in that day, why
do things continue to be so F(ed) up today! I still believe that much has
changed from the 1960s until today in race relations and gender and sexuality.
The answer to question “why are things still so bad
today,” particularly in regard to race is that the structures of white
supremacy that this society was built upon remain at the core of its institutions
to this very day. Massive assaults were waged against those structures 50 and
60 years ago and some things did change. And if things still seem F(ed) up
today, imagine how bad they were before the civil rights revolution of the
1960s. Places were Black and Brown people can be denied public services or
accommodations still exist, but not on anything like the scale that they
existed before the 1970s. The practice of denying married women credit cards in
their own names was widespread before the 1960s. That does not happen today.
LGBTQ people continue to be harassed, intimidated, assaulted and even killed
today. And perhaps you are killed more often today. But that’s because you have
carved out some space to express yourselves openly and have gained acceptance
in a range of quarters in society that would have been unthinkable 50 years
ago. But with that greater acceptance has come a greater backlash from those
who themselves are intimidated and fearful of significant social changes.
And yes, police and white vigilantes are still killing
Black people with impunity. And the police brutality in our communities around
this country has got to stop. What I want to say today is that we are at a
juncture that is vey much like we were at in 1968.
The late great historian of the capitalist
world-system, Immanuel Wallerstein, talked about great years in world history
when social forces came together in ways that caused sweeping structural change
in many societies across the world. 1968 was one of those years, and I want to
submit to you that 2020 is another year like that.
1968 was the year that Martin Luther King was
assassinated. Black rebellions in over 100 American cities exploded on that
occasion. And that was following rebellions in a similar number of cities in the
“long hot summer” of 1967. The 1967 rebellions in most instances, were
instigated by incidents of police harassment or brutality. Those were the days
of the Black Power Movement and Black communities were mobilizing to say enough
was enough!
1968 was also the year in which the forces opposing
the Vietnam War had reached a critical mass. The argument that the war was US
imperialism against a nation of color simply fighting to end colonialism was
gaining support. Race was an issue inside the US armed forces, as well. Over
one in five troops on the ground in Vietnam were Black. It was not lost on them
that they were waging a white man’s war against a people of color in a far-off
land. There was near-military breakdown in many places then. And many veterans
of all races returned home to join the anti-war movement. The anti-war movement
and the racial justice movement came together at the Democratic Convention in
Chicago in 1968. The Chicago police instigated violent protests with their
heavy-handed tactics.
There is more to that saga, but the point I want to
make here is that the critiques of American racial injustice at home and
American imperialism abroad were paired then and have been ever since in the
progressive political agenda. There are a minority of white people, but still
millions of white people who “got woke” and moved and into the
anti-racist/anti-imperialist left during those years.
But not enough changed!
Now in 2020 we have the COVID-19 pandemic. Early on we
began to see evidence that it disproportionately impacted Black and Brown
populations. We are witnessing the white capitalist powers in the economy
telling brown farmworkers and meatpacking workers, that they must go back to
work, protective gear or not. Fortunately, those workers are pushing back in
may places and demanding proper protections … and then we get Ahmad Arbery, and
Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd … And we learn that the rebellions we are
witnessing have hit over 100 cities, the largest racial rebellions since 1968!
And to top things off we have a fascist in the White House!
His disbelief in the use of government to resolve our social problems, his
disbelief in science and his racism have combined to send this country into a
state of trauma that may be greater than 1968. It may be something like the
depths of the Great Depression, before Roosevelt came along; or December 1941,
after the attack on Pearl Harbor, when the Depression still wasn’t over.
But the door has been forced open now. Black
nationalist used to use the phrase “get the police’s boot off our necks” in the
1960s. Now the image of “Derek racial Chauvinist’s” knee on George Floyd’s neck
has sickened so much of America, so much of white America. In the context of the
racial impacts of COVID-19 it has forced politicians, leaders in the medical
community, educators and even the NFL and the NBA to utter phrases like
“systemic” or “structural racism.” Cops in some places have even joined the
protesters … And the protesters themselves are a Rainbow Coalition of what twenty-first century America already looks like. This is different from the Black rebellions
of the 1960s, and it is a hopeful sign.
In order to effect change in these
critical times we must stay in the streets and continue to apply pressure on
all of our social and political institutions
-But we must get involved in the efforts that have
been ongoing since Ferguson in 2014, to reform the law enforcement and criminal
(in)justice systems.
-We must take up the battle to dismantle systemic
racism in all of our institutions from education, to healthcare, to banking and
financial services, and of course government itself.
Lastly, we must vote in November and get the fascist
president and his minions in Congress out of power so we can all breathe again.
This revolution will take time. It will not be won by
dramatically sweeping aside all of these toxic institutions of white supremacy.
We must steel ourselves for this long-term struggle. It’s going to take all of
us to get it done. This is the commitment I call upon make here today!
